Tigert’s Tigers regain superb form

Jason Tigert was entering his second season as head coach in Lewisburg and had the Tigers fired up after a 9-21 first season on the bench.

Senior post player DeShaun Greer led a talented squad that included the sharpshooting 3-point crazy trio of Blaise Spencer, Ryan Nicholson, and Hunter Osborn.

These guys could fill it up from anywhere on the court, plus they had great depth and experience with Cameron McCullough, Jamie Perryman, Michael Murphy, and Cody Duvall.

LMS standout Kedren Johnson led an ultra-talented freshmen class that also included Broderick Tears, Dominique Matthews, Dillon Stinnett, and Jordan Anderson.

The Tigers opened the campaign with a 10-point win at Coffee County before hosting Culleoka in the home opener.

The Warriors were coming off a Class A state runner up finish and sported 2007 Mr. Basketball finalist DeMario Williams.

Marshall County was more than ready for the challenge, playing the Warriors tough in a neck-and-neck battle and led 46-45 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Nicholson with less than three minutes to go in the game.

Baskets by Culleoka’s Antwane Beach and McCullough for Marshall County kept the seesaw affair intact, but the Warriors won the stretch drive and the game 53-50.

Although they lost, the Tigers had gained some serious confidence as they marched to 12 consecutive wins, not losing again until December 29 to 3A Oakland in the Smyrna Bulldog Classic championship game.

In seven out of the 12 wins, the Tigers won by double digits while Tullahoma (50-48), Page (55-53), Lewis County (69-64), Hickman County (63-61), and Moore County (65-53) all gave Marshall County tough battles.

The Hickman County game stood out as the Tigers got off to a slow start at home before the freshman Johnson stole an errant pass and raced in for a layup to tie the game at 42-42 and with just a few seconds remaining in the third period, Greer scooped up a rebound and threw the outlet pass to Ryan Nicholson, who found Spencer open in the corner for a rainmaker from three-point land at the buzzer, giving the Tigers their first lead of the ballgame.

A 10-0 run by MCHS to start the fourth quarter gave the Tigers all the margin they needed as they came away with two-point victory.

Johnson led the Tigers with 15 points, Osborne scored 14, Nicholson found the net for 13, Greer pitched in with a tough 12 points, Spencer had six, and Perryman netted three points.

The Tigers came out of the Christmas break with a 13-2 record and continued to stay hot, winning three district games in a row before a 66-57 setback at archrival Giles County on January 18, 2008.

A shorthanded MCHS squad, playing without Johnson the entire game and Greer in the second half, beat Lewis County 63-48 for the season sweep, nailing ten 3-pointers for the eleventh time of the year with Spencer drilling six three-bombs and McCullough had a season-high 14 points in the win.

MCHS lost a non-conference game at Lawrence County before travelling to Centerville where they came away with a 66-53 win as Greer went wild with four dunks and game-high 20 points.

The Tigers got a favor from Lewis County on the same night as the Panthers pulled off a 67-61 overtime upset win at Hohenwald to put the Tigers in to first place in the district standings.

Tigert’s squad went on to win three straight district games, beginning with a 64-41 blowout win over Loretto on Homecoming night, followed by a 68-54 win at East Hickman before clinching the outright district title with a huge 64-46 win over Spring Hill on February 5 on Senior Night.

The Tigers halted Giles County’s five-year reign as regular season District 10-AA champs.

Nicholson, who went on to win the District MVP Award, scored 24 points versus the Raiders and Osborne, Spencer, and Greer were all in double figures with 10 points apiece.

A rematch at Culleoka was next for the Tigers, who wanted to avenge the earlier season loss, but it not to be as the Warriors completed the sweep with a 73-62 win.

Top-seeded Marshall County opened up district tournament play with a 20-point win over East Hickman as Greer scored 18 points and pulled down 19 rebounds.

Three days later, the Tigers suffered a devastating defeat when they squandered a 10-point lead versus Spring Hill in a quarterfinal matchup.

Tigert’s Tigers drilled Lewis County in the consolation game before winning by 15 points and headed to David Lipscomb for the Region 5-AA opener where they lost 75-59 to end the season.

Giles County beat Spring Hill 55-52 in the district title game, but the Bobcats lost to CPA in the region tournament title tilt and they were eliminated from postseason play when they lost 58-51 at Bolivar Central in the sub-state round.

One year later I jinxed the Tigers as I rode the bus with them to Bolivar.

The bus broke down on the way and after a long delay getting a new bus, the Tigers entered a gym that was at least 120 degrees and suffered a season ending sub-state loss.

The 2007-2008 season was the springboard to success as the Tigers went on to win three more regular season district titles, two region tournament championships, and reached the semifinals of the 2010 State Tournament in Tigert’s’ six-year stint at Lewisburg.

A little while later, I saw Greer for the last time up close when he signed with Kings College. I miss him.

Rockets start slow, finish strong

The Forrest Rockets were coming off a solid 18-10 season and a tie with Cascade for the regular season district title, but were eliminated by Eagleville via a tough one-point loss in the region semifinals.

Head coach Davy McClaran was entering his 12th season on the bench and had a big job in front of him as the Rockets lost their all-time leading scorer in Corey Shankle, their starting backcourt of Chase Beaulieu and Chandler Gentry, and power forward Brian Whitley.

The transition season saw senior Nick Schnaap taking on the lead role for the Rockets as a proven scorer with Kendall Knight and Kyle Anglin handling the backcourt duties.

Three-sport athlete Colin Henson was ready to crack the starting lineup, bringing his athleticism and fiery nature to the wing, along with sharpshooting Preston Pratt, a gritty Seth Brothers and another three-sport athlete in Devin O'Brien, who brought his lunch pail to work every night.

With Shankle’s departure, senior Buck Bennett and sophomore Parker Holton took over in the low post, along with 6-foot-5 Hudson Bell.

Promising freshman Ferris Perkins and Taylor Schoenberger added depth to McClaran’s squad, along with Kyle Gugger, Corey Bishop, Leland Brothers, and Dane Leonard.

Forrest opened up the 2007-2008 campaign at home versus Clarkrange in a Hall of Fame matchup and led for much of the game until the Buffaloes came back to lead 33-32 early in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets regained the lead on a Knight steal and dish to Schnapp and moments later, Brothers drilled a 3-pointer for a five-point lead, but once again the Buffaloes stayed tough, cutting the lead to one point at 41-40 with 54.3 seconds remaining in the contest.

Forrest went to the four-corner offense, holding the ball until Knight found Henson on a backdoor play to seal the win.

Unfortunately, the opening night win did not spark a winning streak, instead the Rockets lost eight in a row and nine out of ten with the lone win coming at home versus district rival Cascade.

The Rockets won 63-54 as Schnapp led the way with 19 points and Knight was also in double figures with 10.

Anglin added seven points, Bennett, Brothers, and Pratt all scored six points apiece, Holton and O'Brien each had four, and Henson added one point.

In the eight-game losing streak, the Rockets lost two games by two points and two more games by four points.

In the final loss of the losing streak, McClaran pulled his entire starting lineup out of the game early in the third quarter at Cascade and the tactic must have worked because the Rockets came back with a big 58-32 blowout win at Community four days later.

Schnapp led the Rockets with 17 points, Knight struck for 10, Brothers netted nine, O'Brien eight, Henson six, Anglin and Perkins scored three points apiece, and Bennett had one bucket.

Forrest got hot at the right time, winning three more district games to end the regular season as they mauled the MTCS Cougars 63-42, beat the Vikings on Senior Night at Chapel Hill by seven points, and crushed F.C. Boyd 80-45 in the regular season finale.

The win clinched a first-round home game for the District 9-A Tournament opener and the Rockets took advantage of the home cooking via a 63-47 win over MTCS that also clinched a spot in the upcoming Region 5-A Tournament.

Pratt nailed four 3-pointers in the game to lead the Rockets in a balanced scoring attack with Schnaap and Knight adding 11 points apiece, Henson had nine, Bennett netted eight, O’Brien six, Brothers had five, and Anglin added one marker.

The remainder of the district tournament moved to Community and the Rockets faced archrival Eagleville, who had swept Forrest in the regular season and had eliminated Chapel Hill from postseason play the season before in the excruciating one-point loss.

The Eagles made it four wins in a row over Forrest as a big second half propelled Eagleville to an easy 75-58 win.

The Rockets came back with a big 73-50 win over Cascade in the consolation game, but had the tough task of travelling to play a stout Clarksville Academy squad for the region opener.

The Cougars sported the freshmen twin towers in Malcom and Martin Smith and they easily handled the Rockets 67-50, ending Chapel Hill’s season.

The Rockets (13-17) went on to have two more losing seasons before a huge 2010-2011 season when they won 24 games.

The Smith brothers led the Cougars to a state title as juniors in 2009-2010 with a 36-2 record, but were upset by Perry County one year later in a sub-state game and finished with a 36-2 record in the failed attempt at back-to-back crowns.

Wilson guides Bulldogs to new heights

Cornersville coach Adrian Wilson was also in his second season on the bench for the Bulldogs and brought a disciplined, yet fast and furious style of play that had turned in to a respectable 11-17 2006-2007 season that included the school’s first region tournament appearance in 15 years.

The Bulldogs brought back five seniors, including the backcourt duo of Steven "Ice Man" Nelms and point guard Jimmy Civils.

Juniors Chuck Bassham and the speedy Kyle Hammock added to a deep and talented backcourt rotation that also included junior Flint Davis and the freshmen duo of Josh "Boochie" Pope and Justin McCord.

The frontcourt was also loaded with senior post man Tyler Cole and one of the most athletic players in the county in Garrett Stiles.

Senior Lucas Highfill was a swingman who could score and the Crowell brothers, senior Jacob and freshman Aaron were both talented and capable players that Wilson used a lot.

Josh Rich, Joseph Darnell, Brent Pope, Trenton Davis, and Cody Poarch rounded out the deep squad for Wilson.

The Bulldogs lost by 20 points to Summertown in the season opening Hall of Fame game, but came back with an ultra-lopsided 59-point win versus Hampshire to even their record.

Cornersville lost at Collinwood before hosting Community and led by seven points in the fourth quarter, but could not hold the lead and fell by two points to the Vikings.

MTCS handed the Bulldogs their third loss in a row in another tight game and went in to the Thanksgiving break with a 1-4 record.

After the break, the Bulldogs hosted Huntland in the District 11-A opener and beat the Hornets by 18 points with Rich going 5-for-6 from three-point land.

Rich led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points and Stiles was also in double figures with 11.

Highfill had four points, Jimmy Civils three, and Joseph Darnell and Nelms had two points apiece for the Bulldogs, who made it two district wins in a row with a 60-54 triumph at Santa Fe.

Cornersville played in the Night of Stars Invitational at Marshall County and lost by 20 points to the Tigers.

I missed all the event that night because I had a nasty stomach virus, but still listened to all the games on the radio at WJJM.

The loss didn’t affect them at all as they won back-to-back games over Columbia Academy at home and then came up with a huge win over Collinwood to even the season series versus a tough Trojans’ squad that had beaten the Bulldogs four out of five times coming in to the contest.

The game was a classic and the Trojans held a 53-46 lead in the fourth quarter when “The Ice Man” cometh again as Nelms drained a 3-pointer to make it 53-51 with 1:11 to play in the contest.

After a timeout, Collinwood missed two free throws and on the second brick, Nelms grabbed the rebound and the Bulldogs set up a play that found a streaking Cole in the lane with 46 seconds left for a pretty kiss off the glass and a foul that sent the crowd crazy.

Cole went to the line where he calmly drained the free throw to give the Dawgs a 54-53 lead.

The Bulldogs held on for the win to even their season record at 5-5.

Cole led the Bulldogs with 20 points while Stiles and Nelms had 11 points apiece.

Civils had six, and Lucas Highfill, Joseph Darnell, and Josh Rich all had two points for the Bulldogs, who went on a 10-day Christmas break.

The long break also broke their winning mojo as they lost by 10 points to Tullahoma and by 14 to Forrest in an intra-county matchup at the Eagleville Christmas Classic.

The Bulldogs got things going once again with a huge 59-56 overtime win over archrival Richland at a packed house in Cornersville.

The Raiders had won 13 straight over the Bulldogs coming in to the contest, so it was another huge stepping stone for Wilson’s squad, who trailed 15-6 at the end of the first quarter and 23-18 at the half.

Cornersville dug in and cut the Richland lead to a single digit entering the fourth quarter and from there it was a back and forth affair for the remainder of regulation time.

Current Cornersville coach Peyton Newton buried a jumper from the top of the key to put Richland in front 48-45 with 49 seconds left when Nelms did his thing, burying an ice-cold 3-pointer, tying the game with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Richland could not score and the game went to overtime where the Bulldogs went on a 5-0 run to begin extra time.

The Raiders did not quit, cutting the Cornersville lead to two points with 17 seconds left, but Bassham and Civils drained clutch free downs in the waning seconds to seal the win for the Bulldogs.

“I thought the Collinwood win before Christmas was the biggest win we ever had, but this win is the biggest one since I’ve been here,” said an exhausted Wilson at the time.

The next night, the Bulldogs travelled to MTCS for a Saturday game and fell 52-50 to the Cougars and then lost two district games in a row to Culleoka and Moore County, falling to third place in the district standings.

Cornersville bounced back in a big way, avenging an earlier season loss to Community and they backed that up with a 66-57 road win at Huntland as Civils had a season-high 18 points and Cole (12), Bassham (11), Nelms (10), and Garrett Stiles (10) were all in double figures in the scoring column.

The Bulldogs completed regular season series sweeps over Santa Fe and Columbia before embarking on a huge road trip to Richland on January 29.

The entire community had heavy hearts that week when junior cheerleader Jamie Drenkhahn was tragically killed in a car accident just three days prior to the game at Richland.

The inspired Dawgs won by four points to finish off the season sweep over the Raiders and then honored Drenkhahn two days later against Eagleville on Homecoming Night at Cornersville.

The emotions were too much to handle and the Bulldogs fell 67-58 to even their record at 11-11.

Nelms, the Mr. Cornersville Basketball of 2007-'08 scored 27 points in the losing effort.

The Bulldogs suffered through two more losses versus Culleoka and Moore County before coming up with a huge 81-25 blowout win over Hampshire on Senior Night.

Stiles led the Dawgs with 16 points, Nelms had 13, Bassham had 12 points on all 3-pointers, and Darnell also found double digits with 10 points in the regular season finale.

In a classy move, Cole let Hampshire grab the opening tip to give senior Billy Swhind the opportunity to score the first bucket in the Senior Night game for the winless Hawks.

Cole had nine, Civils seven, and Davis and Brent Pope had two points apiece for the Bulldogs, who finished the regular season with a 12-13 overall record and a third place finish in the district with an 8-4 mark.

The Bulldogs hosted Santa Fe in the first round of the District 11-A Tournament and pulled away late for 65-44 win and a three-game sweep over the Wildcats.

Cornersville travelled to district co-champion Culleoka for a semifinal matchup where the Bulldogs came into the contest as heavy underdogs since Culleoka was playing on their home court and had beaten Cornersville by 35 points just two weeks earlier.

The Warriors, though, were never able to pull away from the Bulldogs and had to stave off a late Cornersville rally to pull out the victory.

"My kids played their hearts out," Wilson said after the game. "For the most part we did what we needed to do. If we made a few more shots here or there, we could have won the game."

Cole had 20 points in the contest and Stiles was also in double figures with 10.

Next up was archrival Richland in the district consolation game with a region tournament berth on the line and it was a back-and-forth battle the entire game between the two squads, but some fourth quarter heroics by Bassham and Civils helped the Dawgs defeat the Raiders for the third time that season.

After an over a decade long drought, the Bulldogs were in the region tournament for the second season in a row, but the task was a mighty one as they had to travel to the phone booth in Summertown to face an Eagles team that came in to the contest with a 24-5 record.

The Eagles had beaten Cornersville by 20 points in the season opener and in a fateful twist of irony, the Bulldogs pulled off the biggest win of the year as they came back from an early 11-point deficit to score a huge 59-51upset win, ending Summertown’s season.

Four Bulldogs recorded double figures in the game as Cole had 13 points, Stiles added a dozen, and Nelms and Bassham scored 11 points apiece.

The Bulldogs were the last men's team standing in Marshall County in the post-season and played an inspired first half versus the number one-seeded Raiders, leading 23-19 after the first quarter and trailing by just two points, 39-37 at the half.

Moore County used a 22-4 run at the outset of the second half to open up an insurmountable margin at 61-41 and the magical season was over for the Bulldogs.

Wilson was named District 11-A Coach of the Year as his hard work had paid off for the Bulldogs, who finished the season with an even 15-15 record.

Cornersville made the region tournament again the following season, but did not go that far again until the 2016-2017 campaign.

Help me out

If you have any questions, comments, or old photos you would like to share please contact me at apuca@marshalltribune.com and I will be happy to share with everyone else.

I want to thank Scotty Brock and George “Pap” Warren for their generosity in teaching me a lot about photography and sharing their photos over that first season and up to this day.

Bill Beasley in Chapel Hill has done the same, as has Danny Parker and Jimmy Jones from the Shelbyville Times Gazette, and a special thank you to Jim Bryan for his expertise and teaching that was essential.

I want to thank all the fans, parents, athletes, coaches, school administrators, and work colleagues for helping me live this wonderful dream.