It’s tournament time (Part 1)
Wildcats have the top seed at Fulton
Oak Ridge High School Head Basketball Coach Aaron Green watches his team during a recent game. (photo:Luthor Simmons Photography )
The Wildcats endured some offensive struggles in the first half and never really recovered as they came up on the short end of a 55-42 decision against the host Falcons Saturday night at Jody Wright Arena at Knoxville’s Fulton High School.
Oak Ridge shot just 21 percent over the first 16 minutes of the contest, going just 4-for-19 from the field in the first half.
Grayson Strader led the Wildcats (22-4) with 11 points. Ray’Quan Watson added 10, while Cooper Williams had seven points and Kaden Brightharp finished with six.
Fulton, the top seed in the upcoming District 5-AAA Tournament that begins Saturday at Austin-East High School in Knoxville, concluded its regular season with a 25-5 record.
The loss to the Falcons was the third of three games last week.
The Wildcats defeated Clinton 74-61 Thursday on the road at the Don W. Lockard Gymnasium.
ORHS outlasted Alcoa 73-64 on Monday, Feb. 6, at Wildcat Arena.
Oak Ridge, which won the District 3-4A regular-season title with a 9-1 league record, will be the top seed in the district tournament, which will be held at Powell High School.
The Wildcats will have an opening-round bye and an automatic bid to the Region 2-4A Tournament.
They’ll play their first postseason game Friday night at the Jeff Hunter Gymnasium, and will await the winner of tonight’s (Feb. 15) game between Knoxville Central (the No. 4 seed) and the host Panthers, the No. 5 seed.
Tipoff Friday is set for 7:30 p.m.
While ORHS Coach Aaron Green isn’t about to give back his squad’s regular-season championship, he knows that it guarantees very little as the Wildcats move forward.
“You always want to win and you always want to win a title, but all that really does is set the seeding for the district tournament and get you into the region tournament,” Green said after the Wildcats clinched the title recently.
“But you still have to continue to get better,” he said.
“Basketball is a tournament sport, and everybody gets into the playoffs. It’s not like football.”