For the fourth time in the last five seasons, the North Greene Huskies boys’ basketball team is headed back to Murfreesboro for the Class 1A State Tournament after a 64-53 state sectional win over Oliver Springs on Monday night.
At the beginning of December, a small group of people believed North Greene could still make it back to the state tournament. In the preseason many believed, but after Bennett McLain’s season-ending injury things changed. The whole team took on a new identity and had to find who they were as a group. They took their lumps in the Thanksgiving Classic and suffered back-to-back losses in December, but the Huskies regrouped after Christmas and found their chemistry.
Since then, North Greene has won 22 in-a-row, went undefeated against District 1-1A opponents to claim the regular season title, won the tournament, and won the Region 1-1A tournament. Tonight’s win is just one of 30 on the season, but it’s the one they needed to make the year’s comeback story a success.
“I’m just proud of these kids because we’ve been through a lot, especially early. A lot of people wouldn’t have us down here and I don’t know if I would’ve, especially when that happened. I think back to a meeting we had at Grainger’s Thanksgiving tournament after Ben went down. I don’t know if I necessarily believed it at the time, but I told them we still had enough. They just had to lock in to everything I said, and try to execute everything I said, and play hard all the time and I think we’d figure it out. Boy, they did that. I’ve never had more fun coaching a group,” Huskies Head Coach Sam Tarlton spoke fondly about this group.
This win adds to the already impressive resume built by Tarlton. Since he took over in 2018, the Huskies have now made the state tournament five times in eight seasons. They have reached the final four twice. Adding to that, he’s won four district championships and four region championships.
After a hot-shooting first quarter it seemed like it would be an explosion of offense all night for North Greene. After jumping out to a 22-7 lead, Oliver Springs cut the lead down to five heading into the fourth quarter and made the Huskies earn their win. The margin sat at five with 1:53 left, but the Huskies showed their grit and determination to achieve their ultimate goal of making it back to the glass house and proved why they are one of the best teams throughout the state.
Only four players scored all night, but it was all they needed. All four entered double figures. Tyler Britton led the Huskies with 19 points, Lance Carrico added 17, Thomas Darnell had a big 15, and Lawson Davenport had 13.
There’s something synonymous with the name Britton and state sectional games. Junior Tyler Britton seemingly could not miss in the first quarter. He finished the frame with 14 points and shot 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. “We just come out and always want to put a show on for everybody out here. That’s just how it is out here,” he stated.
Thomas Darnell’s quarterback instincts came in handy in the late stages of Monday’s matchup. The junior made a few big-time free throws and scored nine points in the fourth quarter. “I’ve definitely grown a lot from that. Not just as a player, but a person, and learned how to step up in big key moments like that,” he stated.
It was Oliver Springs’ Ja’Quan Benton who started with a layup, but the Huskies rolled for the rest of the quarter. Tyler Britton scorched the nets and scored 11-straight including a trio of three-point bombs. After he splashed three, Lawson Davenport and Lance Carrico joined him in hitting three-point shots. Before you knew it North Greene led 17-2.
Britton hit one more three for good measure and Davenport took his time banking in a floater at the buzzer to have the Huskies leading 22-7 after one.
“We shot 80% in the first quarter and that was the difference in the game. Tyler had a really hot start and hit four threes. I thought that was the difference,” Tarlton stated.
The second quarter was a slow one for them and they only scored seven points in the eight-minute quarter. They finished strong though with five-straight to end the half and led 29-16 at the break.
The third quarter was where things got interesting. Ethan Jones put on a showcase scoring 12 points to pull Oliver Springs within five points. He scored six-straight for them to open the quarter apart of a 9-2 run.
Lance Carrico’s biggest moments came midway through the quarter with five-straight on a three-pointer and turnaround bucket. He finished his last game in Jerome Woolsey Gymnasium with 17 points. “We had a lot of energy coming out I felt like,” he mentioned.
North Greene kept them honest and responded to everything they threw at them. When Karson Feeber made a layup, Carrico added a basket. When Jones made a bucket, Darnell came right back with one. When Gavin Johnson got a steal and took it coast-to-coast, Davenport added two from the baseline.
The score was 40-35 entering the fourth quarter.
The Huskies came straight at them to start the fourth and scored four-straight with Darnell’s layup and Britton’s lay in. Jaxon Jett sank back-to-back threes to bring that margin back down to five. Both teams traded buckets to keep the margin at five. The closest Oliver Springs got was within four after Benton’s free throw.
Coach Tarlton decided to call a timeout with 4:10 left. From that point in the game to the finish North Greene outscored Oliver Springs 14-7.
“You know against a good team they’re going to make a good run. That toughness stuff is our motto. Play the next play. We’ve been through about everything you can go through this year. When the other team makes a run, we know we’ve just got to absorb it and go make our run here in a minute,” Tarlton explained.
Britton and Carrico came out of the break with back-to-back lay ins. Gavin Johnson nailed a transition three that pulled them within six and they’d take a timeout immediately after it. It was the last bit of momentum Oliver Springs saw.
Lawson Davenport was left open along the baseline and rose up for rim grazer. For Davenport, it wasn’t the easiest night for the point guard as the pressure was on for him to beat the press and handle the duties of leading the team in a sub-state atmosphere. He explained his thought process through those moments. “Just be calm and we’ll be fine during it. Handle the adversity and finish it strong.”
Thomas Darnell put the stamp of approval on Monday night’s win with a one-handed dunk to excite the Baileyton crowd. He made three foul shots in the closing minute to further prove he was ready for the moment with his quarterback instincts.
“Our hidden MVP all year has been Thomas Darnell,” Tarlton stated. “What a player. I think football has really helped him to not be afraid of the moment. He drove in there and dunked one in the second half.”
North Greene closed the deal and sent Oliver Springs packing with a 64-53 loss to punch their ticket to the Class 1A State Tournament for the second year in-a-row and fourth time in five years.
“Credit to them they’ve got a good team. That’s why they’re in sub-state, but we were able to do just enough down the stretch to get to where we wanted to go,” Tarlton finished with.
Tyler Britton led the team with 19 points and led the Britton family to their sixth state tournament in the last seven years. “It feels phenomenal. A lot of people didn’t think we would after losing Jason and Bennett, but it feels phenomenal to go back to state,” he expressed.
The rest of North Greene’s cast spoke about their win and upcoming trip back to the state tournament. Thomas Darnell said, “It’s great. You can’t beat anything like it.” Lawson Davenport mentioned, “It feels great. It really does. Going back with all the boys I’ve been with before. It’s an amazing feeling. Lance Carrico stated, “It feels good. It feels really good.”
The Huskies open the tournament on Wednesday, March 19th at 9:30 AM CT against Humboldt. The game will be played inside of the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.
