The breakdown: Blackman boys roll to 7-AAA championship

Blackman completed its wire-to-wire District 7-AAA boys championship Tuesday evening, capturing the league tournament title with a 52-34 win over Oakland at Blackman High School.

The win was the third for the third-ranked Blaze (24-3) over the Patriots (20-7) this season. Blackman went 12-0 in the district during the regular season before sweeping through the tournament.

The Blaze will be at home Saturday at 7 p.m. against 8-AAA fourth-place team Franklin County in the Region 4-AAA quarterfinals. Oakland (20-7) will be at home against third-place Columbia at 7 Saturday in the region opener.

Here is a breakdown of the game:

Blackman boys 52, Oakland 34

Records: Blackman 24-3, Oakland 20-7.

The skinny: The first quarter was basically a mirror of the first two meetings between the district's top two teams as they played to a 12-12 tie. After that it was all Blackman. The Blaze dominated the boards, controlled the ball and were efficient offensively over the final three quarter. Blackman held Oakland to 32 percent shooting from the field.

Turning point: Back-to-back buckets by Brandon Thomas and MTSU signee Donovan Sims (a 3-pointer) broke a 16-16 tie and sent Blackman on a 12-2 run to end the second quarter, giving the Blaze a 30-18 halftime lead. The margin never got closer than that as the hosts began the third quarter on a 10-2 run.

Leading scorers: Blackman: Donovan Sims 12, Brandon Thomas 9, Trent Gibson 9. Oakland: Ray Tyler 9, Keishawn Davidson 7.

Quotable: "It feels like tournament time. We just had to play hard and go with what works for us. We tried to make the correct reads and go inside-out. We're thankful they fell." - Blackman guard Jaellan White, who scored eight points.

Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.