Story by Noah McKay
Photos by Michael Lindsay
MURFREESBORO – For the first time in program history, the Upperman Bees will compete for a boys basketball state championship.
The Bees advanced to the TSSAA Class 3A state title game with a 55-47 win over Greeneville on Friday at the Murphy Center.
“I’m just proud of these guys,” said UHS head coach Bobby McWilliams. “It wasn’t easy. We’ve never been in this situation. Just incredibly proud of their effort and execution at both ends. It’s a tough game to get through.”
Both defenses controlled the early portion of the game, with the Greene Devils leading 3-0 midway through the quarter. The Bees answered with a 10-0 run with five points from Landon Hall and Class 3A Mr. Basketball Ty Cobb to take a 10-3 lead after one.
The run continued for the Bees with two Cobb layups and a jumper stretching the advantage to 18-10. GHS answered with a 7-0 run to cut the UHS lead to 18-17 at halftime.
Junior Bronzden Chaffin rained in a triple early in the third quarter, as he and Cobb combined to create an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 26-17. A GHS layup followed by five more Chaffin and Cobb points stretched the lead to 31-19. The teams traded points at the end of the frame as the Bees led 38-27 after three.
A Chaffin tomahawk dunk stretched the lead to 40-27, but the Greene Devils answered with a fourth quarter rally, cutting the deficit to 50-47 before Cobb made a layup and converted late free throws as the Bees secured the 55-47 win.
“We had to hang onto the ball a little bit,” said McWilliams. “We just took to many chances. We called timeout and I said I’ll let you guys play because I trust you, you just have to make the good decisions, the easy, simple decisions. We did that in the last two minutes.”
Defensively, the Bees held University of Tennessee commit Trey Thompson to 19 points.
Cobb led the game with 33 points. Chaffin added 12, all in the 2nd half.
“I just knew let the game come to me,” said Chaffin.
Hall scored five in the first quarter before leaving with an injury. Evan Huddleston scored five.
The Bees will take on the winner of Tullahoma and Fayette-Ware in the Class 3A state championship game.
“They’re super competitive,” said McWilliams. “Part of being able to win any game… any championship… is being kind of fearless. You have to be able to play without worrying about losing, they do that, and as a result of that we were able to get through this game.”
Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. The game will be audio broadcast on the UCR Media Network.
