Story and Photos by Noah McKay
MURFREESBORO – The Jackson County Blue Devils advanced in the TSSAA Class 2A state tournament with a 66-56 win over Jackson Central-Merry in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday at the Murphy Center.
A familiar formula of Will McCrary dominating the paint and the Blue Devils knocking down threes propelled them into the final four of the classification for the first time in school history.
“I thought for the first time being here, they played confidently,” said JCHS head coach Kevin Thomas. “As a whole, the game went pretty well throughout.”
Parker Patterson and McCrary were the lone Blue Devils to score in the first quarter as the teams traded buckets to a 14-14 score after one.
An Isaiah Thomas layup and McCrary jumper gave the Blue Devils a 18-17 lead early in the second. Then, after a JCM bucket, Skylar Stacy, Thomas and Alex Meadows each hit buckets, with Meadows hitting two threes to give the Blue Devils a 30-21 halftime lead.
“I thought, with us, they had a hard time guarding Will,” said coach Thomas on the difference in the second quarter. “Just staying within ourselves, doing what we do and playing inside-out.”
The Blue Devils appeared poised to pull away when they went on a 7-0 run on four McCrary points and a Meadows three, but JCM’s pressure resulted in several turnovers as they went on a 9-0 run to cut the JCHS lead to 46-41 at the end of three.
Meadows neutralized the JCM crowd with a layup with 5:49 to play, jumpstarting a 10-2 JCHS run to make it 58-45. The lead never dropped below eight despite missed free throws late as the Blue Devils cruised to the 66-56 victory.
“Who we played throughout the year (prepared us),” said Thomas on how the Blue Devils handled the JCM pressure. “I thought all-in-all they handled it pretty well.”
McCrary led the way with 28 points and 16 rebounds. Meadows tallied 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Patterson scored 11 points with four rebounds and five assists. Isaiah Thomas scored six points with five rebounds. Stacy tallied four points.
“We’re going to play through (McCrary),” said Thomas. “That’s what we planned on doing when we got here.”
The Blue Devils (29-2) will take on two-time defending state champion Alcoa on Friday in the state semifinals. Tipoff is set for 2:15 p.m. at the Murphy Center.
“We’ve earned the right to be here,” said coach Thomas. “We deserve to be here so we have to play like we deserve to be here.”
