Tyreke Key, Clay County state tourney run comes up short of title
MURFREESBORO — Tyreke Key enjoyed perhaps the best individual performance in state tournament history this week, but not even the Indiana State signee and Mr. Basketball award recipient’s record-setting effort could bring Clay County its first boys basketball title.
In addition to establishing a new state single-season scoring mark, breaking former Haywood star Tony Delk’s 25-year-old record in Friday’s semifinal win over Grace Christian Academy, Key also set a pair of state tournament records while tying two more.
“I just try not to worry about all that I’ve done,” Key said after the Bulldogs’ 74-73 Class A championship loss to Harriman. “I just try to come out and compete every night.”
Key, who averaged a state-leading 37.3 points this season, set state tournament records for the most points in a game (54) as well as for the tournament (128), and the 6-foot-3 guard also tied records for the most points in a quarter (23) and the most field goals for the tournament (44).
“I told our guys that we were not going to stop him,” Harriman’s coach Shay Shannon said of Key, who had 40 points in Saturday’s loss. “Nobody has stopped him. He’s an amazing basketball player. We tried to make it as tough as we could and he still scored 40. You have to give him a ton of credit. He played unbelievable.”
His three-day run in Murfreesboro was so impressive, in fact, that Key garnered state tournament MVP honors despite his squad’s runner-up finish, marking the first time a player from the losing boys team has received the nod since former Indiana standout Kirk Haston did so for Class A runner-up Perry County in 1996.
Key was even presented with a game ball by TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress and Board of Control President Mike Reed on Saturday.
“It’s for all the state tournament records that he broke,” Childress said. “We just decided that since he broke the scoring record that’s been held by Tony Delk for so long that it would be a good for him to put it in his trophy case.”
Key finished his career as the state’s 10th-leading scorer in TSSAA history with 3,287 points.
“He’s left an impression on me, and I’m sure he left an impression on hundreds and hundreds of people this week,” Clay County coach Rob Edwards said. “It’s something I kind of got used to watching so to me it’s almost common place. You just don’t see it very often. He’s just a special talent.”
ReachMichael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-259-8262 and on Twitter@Murph_TNsports.