Hillsboro’s boys basketball team used a strong defensive presence to punch their ticket to the Class AAA tournament.

The Burros captured an emotional 44-31 win over visiting Mt. Juliet on Tuesday night in the Class AAA sectional.

Hillsboro will face Hamilton in the state quarterfinals on March 11 at MTSU’s Murphy Center at 2:45 p.m.

The Burros lost one of their own Wednesday when freshman team player LeVonzell “L.T.” Taylor collapsed at an AAU tournament in Atlanta over the weekend and died on Tuesday.

“It was a down day, but I thought we were a community all the way through the day,” Hillsboro coach Rodney Thweatt said. “We needed each other tonight and it’s just a great feeling to get to go to the state tournament.”

Hillsboro High mourns death of freshman team player

The first quarter was a tale of two runs. Mt. Juliet (16-17) jumped out to a quick 6-0 run behind a pair of 3-pointers by Christian Bell and Tyler Faulkenberry, but Hillsboro (24-8) struck back immediately, closing out the first on an 8-0 run to take an 8-6 lead.

Hillsboro held Mt. Juliet to just five points in the second quarter and took a 16-11 lead at halftime.

Austin Brown scored eight of his game-high 18 points in the third quarter for Mt. Juliet, but the Bears still trailed by five (29-24) heading into the final quarter.

Mt. Juliet scored two of the first three buckets of the fourth quarter, but Hillsboro closed out the game on a 13-5 run.

“To give up 31 points in 32 minutes; exceptional job by the defense,” Thweatt said.

Mt. Juliet coach Troy Allen, who took Hillsboro to the state tournament in the mid-2000s, said the defense made it difficult for his team to execute.

“They’re long; they’re hard to score on,” said Allen. “They do a great job defensively and credit to them. It was hard for us to get free.”

Donovan Donaldson led Hillsboro with 17 points and Thomas Smith added 15.

Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 or on Twitter @SamBrownTN.