McCallie Nearly Knocks Off Number Two
When Oak Hill Academy (34-0) accepts an invitation to play on your homecourt you readily bring them in. Of course, you anticipate a chance to bring your program and school exposure and likely attract some dollars too.
Also, bringing OHA to campus ensures your program to acquiesce to one more loss. To say nobody defeats Oak Hill Academy is no exaggeration. And yet McCallie didn’t read the full script.
Friday night Junior Clay and his Blue Tornado surged out of the blocks with the confidence and execution of a championship team.
Junior Clay with a gorgeous layup and a steal. Then a TO on hard pass. Great start by Tennessee Tech commit. 3 for Tripp. Fans going bonkers, haha. 8-0 5:11 1Q.
— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) February 3, 2018
Junior Clay (Tennessee Tech) was the best player in the building for most of the game. He outplayed Keldon Johnson (Kentucky), Keyontae Johnson (Florida), and Will Richardson (Oregon) until the final four minutes.
Over and over Clay beat the lengthy 1-2-2 trap and then made spectacularly efficient decisions when he hit the forecourt. Corner triples fell with regularity. Both Tanner Shulman and Trip Butler played very well in their roles. Butler scored 13 points and Shulman gave eight points.
The glory was great.
Oak Hill at McCallie 2Q https://t.co/M16pXlDDzE
— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) February 3, 2018
No team all season put Oak Hill down by more than 15 points. I.M.G. Academy pushed the Warriors down 15 points in South Carolina, but Oak Hill recaptured the momentum and ultimately won that contest.
McCallie pushed it to 32-9, a mind-boggling score.
Nearly everybody thought this game was curtains at the half. It took an equally magical surge from Oak Hill Academy to overtake a whimsically confident Blue Tornado team.
Then Oak Hill happened.
Another steal for Oak Hill. They score 6 straight. 57-49 McCallie, but the game is becoming unhinged. Also, Clay sits down to rest. 1:06 3Q
— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) February 3, 2018
In all the Warriors of Oak Hill Academy scored 15 straight points to close the third quarter. The entire tone of the basketball contest changed in that window.
That was QUICK. 57-57 with 4.6 sec left in 3Q. McCallie fans silent. Trailing 58-57 with 3.0 sec in 3Q.
— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) February 3, 2018
Watch the final quarter to experience the second best team in the country avoid a surefire upset bid by McCallie.
Oak Hill at McCallie 4Q CLOSE https://t.co/LPiavnl2gg
— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) February 3, 2018