McCallie's Jordan Starling leaps high to block a Lipscomb Academy shot in the first quarter of a Division II-AA first round game at the McCallie gym Tuesday night. The home-standing Blue Tornado defeated the Mustangs, 69-50, and will advance to the quarterfinals and a date this Saturday with MUS in Memphis.
photo by Dennis Norwood
McCallie’s tougher-than-expected 69-50 win over visiting Lipscomb Academy Tuesday night was more than just a victory.
For a senior class of five, it was a final home game on their beloved home court inside the palatial Taj McCall gymnasium. It also earned a bullet point on the 2018 class resume: win No.
100 for the five.
It was a win which keeps the march alive, catapulting the Big Blue into a Saturday night 6 p.m. (EST) battle at Memphis University School in the Division II-AA State Quarterfinals with a berth in the Final Four on the line.
And finally, for head coach John Shulman it was exactly the type game he inwardly had hoped for with the final tally a nice cherry on top.
“When you get to this point, the only thing that matters is scoring more points than the opposition. I’m glad we had that type of game. (Lipscomb) shot it really well, they played at a fast pace which we wanted, and we had to fight for it. Now we are 32 minutes away from the Final Four,” Shulman said after the game.
On paper, the game wasn’t supposed to be anything like it was, not after a 50-point blowout of the same Mustangs team a little over a month ago. After a tight first half, the Mustangs even briefly held a third quarter lead over the Blue Tornado.
“These are high school kids, not college kids, and there is a little thing called maturity. Was it hard getting focused after what they had done in a previous game? They think like 17-year-olds so, yeah probably, but the bottom line is all we wanted to do was score more points than them. We needed that win,” Shulman said.
And he was able to rely on that strong senior class as all four of the ones who played recorded double figures on the night. The lone one not to was sharpshooter Mac Hunt, who broke his foot last week in a game at Brentwood Academy, and cheered his mates from the bench.
Mr. Basketball finalist Junior Clay was his usual steady and stellar self, hitting five of his seven shots and scoring 15 to pace the Blues. And he was the one who carried perhaps the most motivation into the game.
“Junior has been talking about a number for a long time and he finally got it tonight. That was this senior class’ 100th win. We have accomplished a lot with these guys,” Shulman added.
“Last year after the season, I started adding it up and I knew coming into the year we needed a 20-something win season and I felt like we could do that,” said Clay. “Two weeks ago we looked at the numbers again, so yeah, we knew about it. For me, it’s really emotional getting 100 wins with these guys. We started at zero and look at it now. It says a lot about the work we put in and the job coach Shulman has done with us. It’s something to be proud of.”
Jay Gibson ended his home career with a 14-point night as did Jorden Starling. Trip Butler was good for another 10 and each of the seniors made their presence felt during the game.
“They have a really good team with a lot of quickness and can bury you in a hurry. We had talked about the big loss to them but only in a positive way. We knew we were better than that and we saw the things we had to work on to make up the gap. I’m proud of the boys for getting after them tonight,” said Lipscomb coach Will Mantlo.
The Mustangs got off to a good start and even when they faltered somewhat to open the second period, falling behind by 24-14, again stepped it up. Jack Terry had a hot hand the entire first half, scoring 13 of his 19 points and signaled early on McCallie was going to have earn this one.
“Yeah, when he banked that first 3 off the board from the corner, I sadi ‘uh oh’,” laughed Shulman. “They shot it really well, and again, that was good for us to have to fight through it.”
Lipscomb was down just 32-31 at the break, but the blue pressure defense really tightened down the screws in the second half, especially on Terry, who managed to get off just one shot in the third period. McCallie (24-7), meanwhile, finally got hot offensively, running off a 14-2 run after briefly falling behind 33-32. Butler and Gibson started it with 3 balls and Eric Rivers banged home a trey late as McCallie took command at 51-39 through three periods.
McCallie hit on 65 percent of its shots in the final half (11 of 17) and finished 26 of 47 (55%) from the floor for the game. And defensively, McCallie held Lipscomb to four field goals in each of the final two periods to salt away the win.
Big 6-11 center Cade McDowell – who missed most of the year with injuries – was another bright spot for the Mustangs with 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Lipscomb (9-18) got the 19 from Terry, who bagged five 3s, but little else from the rest of the squad.
Lipscomb Academy 14 17 8 11 -- 50
McCallie 20 12 19 18 -- 69
LIPSCOMB ACADEMY (50) – Alexander 5, McNeely, Hutcherson 3, Terry 24, Keith 3, McDowell 18.
McCALLIE (69) – Starling 14, Rivers 9, Walker 3, Clay 15, Butler 10, Gibson 14, Jackson 4.
3-point goals: Lipscomb Academy 8 (Terry 5, Hutcheson, Alexander Keith); McCallie 6 (Gibson 2, Butler 2, Clay, Rivers).
(Contact James Beach via email at 1134james@gmail.com or Twitter @beachnut1134)
McCallie used a lethal trapping defense to defeat visiting Lipscomb Academy Tuesday night, 69-50, in a Division II-AA first-round playoff game. Above, Trip Butler, left, and Shannon Walker, right, apply the defense to a Lipscomb player.
photo by Dennis Norwood