Bulldogs Top Chattanooga Prep, Return To State Tournament

Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis

Last year, the Clay County Bulldogs won the Class A State Championship by defeating Memphis Academy of Health Sciences in the finals.

The Bulldogs clinched their return to the Glass House on Monday, defeating Chattanooga Prep 74-38 in the Substate round.

Clay County wasted little time taking control of the game, opening the contest on a 13-2 run. By the time the opening frame’s buzzer sounded, the Bulldogs held an 11-point lead at 19-8.

The Sentinels fought back and used some three-pointers to stay within arm’s reach, but Clay maintained the double-digit lead and took a 36-20 lead into halftime.

The third quarter is where Clay broke the game wide open, as they outscored Chattanooga prep 23-9 to push the lead to 59-29 heading into the fourth. There, the Bulldogs were able to rest starters and coast to the finish line with a 74-38 win to return to the Class A State Tournament.

Class A Mr. Basketball finalist Grant Strong finished with a game-high 27 points, while Jeff Spivey added 17 points on an efficient 5-9 shooting from the floor for head coach Rob Edwards.

“We got it done defensively in the first half,” Edwards said. “We did a great job. In the second half, we came out and pressed them and got them to play a little faster, and that’s when we were able to pull away.”

One question mark heading into the game was the status of junior Jimmy Burchett, who was hurt in the Bulldogs’ region championship win over East Robertson. While it came down to essentially a game-time decision, Burchett was good to go, and the Bulldogs got out with a win and their health.

“It’s huge, Burchett didn’t play most of the game against East Robertson,” Edwards said. “He’ll be sore for a few days, but we’ve got a little time to get everybody healed up from their injuries and any sickness.”

Many teams that win a state title and then return most of the team that did it would maybe talk about repeating or making another deep run.

For the Bulldogs, the focus has always just been what’s next, and it’s a major part of the reason they’ve made it this far according to Edwards.

“We’ve just stayed focus, and we haven’t looked ahead,” Edwards said. “We’ve never talked about a back-to-back, we didn’t even talk about it tonight. We just talked about North Greene. I think that’s a big part of it. This group is pretty grounded and seasoned.”

“If we can win two more and get in the championship game, anything can happen.”

The Bulldogs will now have some time off before they play against North Greene on Mar. 17 at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro at 1:15 P.M.

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