Murfreesboro, TN – It certainly didn’t come from a lack of trying and certainly Daijon Williams did all he could, but in the end Clarksville High fell to Memphis Central 68-62 in a Class AAA semifinal game in Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center.
Williams, a verbal commitment to Lee University, was outstanding for Clarksville High with a game-high 34 points on 9-of-24 shooting, including going 8-of-18 from the 3-poit line and 8-of-9 from the 3-point line. It just that he was outdueled by Central’s Andre Applewhite and his 29 points and double-double making 10 rebounds and Myron Johnson’s 15 points.The loss ends Region 5-AAA champion and Sectional winner Clarksville High’s season at 26-11.
Memphis Central (20-9) moves onto to the Class AAA State Championship game against Memphis East (22-9) a 81-71 winner over Science Hill.
“We played a tough game against a tough opponent,” Clarksville High coach Ted Young said. “We just weren’t able to come out on top against a very good basketball team. We were able to hit some shots, just not enough of them. Daijon was great and really was a leader all game long.”
Every time Memphis Central made a run, Clarksville High answered it.
Memphis Central led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter and then went on a 10-3 run at the start of the second to go ahead 23-13 with 4:15 left on Johnson’s jumper.
But by 5:30 left in the third, Clarksville High actually came back to take a 29-28 lead on a Williams 3-pointer with 5:30 to go.
Memphis Central took control again and pushed the lead back out to 46-38 by the end of the third, the difference was made courtesy a putback made by Memphis Central’s Antonio Gillespie.
Memphis Central eventually took a 51-41 advantage with 4:30 left in the game on a trey by D’ airrius Sorrell and a free throw by Joshua Jones and it led 60-50 with 2:06 to go on another free throw by Jones.
The Wildcats responded with one more run, this one a 10-2 streak and they cut it to 62-60 with 52 seconds left on two free throws by Williams. But it wasn’t enough as Central went on outscore Clarksville High 6-2 the rest of the way.
Box Score
Memphis Central 68, Clarksville High 62
Official Basketball Box Score Memphis Central vs Clarksville 03/16/12 1:30pm at Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, TN. Officials: Barry Mapp, Kenneth Beard, Cory Massey Technical fouls: Memphis Central-Gillespie, Antonio. Clarksville-None. Attendance: Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Memphis Central............... 13 15 17 23 - 68 Clarksville................... 10 11 18 23 - 62 ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------- VISITORS: Memphis Central 20-9 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Applewhite II, Andre * 8-12 2-3 11-14 0 10 10 2 29 1 4 0 6 29 05 Johnson, Myron...... * 5-8 0-2 5-9 0 1 1 4 15 0 1 0 1 25 11 Jones, Joshua....... * 3-4 0-1 3-5 0 2 2 4 9 2 1 0 0 29 22 Sorrell, D'airrius.. * 4-6 1-1 1-1 1 5 6 2 10 0 1 2 0 32 32 Herron, Frank....... * 1-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 3 2 0 0 2 0 20 10 Gillespie, Antonio.. 1-4 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 3 3 0 3 0 0 22 21 Cain, Taj........... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0+ 25 Thomas, Deddrick.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 22-35 3-7 21-33 2 22 24 20 68 3 11 4 7 160 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-18 66.7% 2nd Half: 10-17 58.8% Game: 62.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 1-2 50.0% Game: 42.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 19-28 67.9% Game: 63.6% 6
HOME TEAM: Clarksville 26-12 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 03 Williams, Daijon.... * 9-24 8-18 8-9 2 1 3 4 34 2 3 0 1 32 04 Holmes, Eric........ * 2-6 0-0 0-0 3 6 9 4 4 3 2 0 0 29 05 Knott, Chase........ * 2-4 1-2 2-2 4 1 5 5 7 3 3 0 3 30 14 Young Drake......... * 2-9 1-5 2-4 1 1 2 5 7 1 3 0 1 28 15 Hightower, Anthony.. * 2-7 1-3 1-2 1 3 4 5 6 0 2 0 0 24 02 Webb, Jeff.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 21 Alberstadt, Grant... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 22 Guerra, Lawrenz..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 30 Majors, Tevin....... 2-4 0-0 0-0 3 2 5 2 4 0 0 0 0 14 TEAM................ 1 3 4 Totals.............. 19-54 11-28 13-17 15 17 32 26 62 9 13 0 5 160 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-25 32.0% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 35.2% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 7-19 36.8% Game: 39.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 12-13 92.3% Game: 76.5% 2