Win would give Clarksville High their second straight trip to the Boys Class AAA State Basketball Tournament
Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville High School Wildcats have been here before. A win over Hunters Lane in the Class AAA Sectional game at their William Workman Gym would give the Wildcats their second straight trip to the State Tournament.
The State Tournament for the boys begins March 14th at 5:00pm at the Murphy Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State.
That victory in today’s Sectional game at 7:00pm would also make it the second straight year both of Clarksville High School’s basketball teams advanced to the state tournament. The Lady Wildcats punched their tickets with their 55-34 victory Saturday over Brentwood. The girls Class AAA bracket gets going on Wednesday at 4:00pm at MTSU.
And Clarksville High had to do it the hard way last year. After losing to West Creek in the Region 5-AAA Championship Game, the Wildcats went on the road and beat Nashville Overton 62-58 in Sectionals.
This year, Clarksville High (21-11) made it a little easier by at least not having to travel and getting to play at home.
“We’ve learned that you can win on the road with what did last year,” Clarksville High coach Ted Young said. “But for our seniors for them to get one more game on their home floor was very difficult to come by. Only eight teams get to do it and to do it Saturday with our girls and then Monday with our boys, it’s just tremendous send off for our seniors. Instead on them getting on a yellow bus one more time, we get to give them one more game at home. And in high school basketball having homecourt advantage is big, particularly the Clarksville high school gym.”
But having to play a 28-3 Hunters Lane squad certainly will be a challenge and especially since the Warriors had won 18 straight until losing to Brentwood 54-51 in the Region 6-AAA Championship Game last Thursday.
Hunters Lane won the District 12-AAA Tournament, went 12-0 in 12-AAA regular season play and was the sixth-ranked team in the state behind Northeast in the final Class AAA Boys Associated Press Tennessee Prep Basketball Rankings. It should be noted that only two other top 10 teams in the final poll, No. 3 Science Hill and No. 10 Ooltewah, have made it to Sectionals.
Clarksville High split with Kenwood, Rossview and West Creek in 10-AAA play was 1-2 against Northeast in 10-AAA action and beat Cane Ridge 64-60.
“We played them in our second scrimmage of the year and they’re big, they’re fast, they shoot well and they dunk,” Young said. “Again, everybody is good right now.”
