Top 6 moments from West Tennessee boys basketball season
With Haywood’s loss to Maplewood last Friday in the Class AA state tournament, the 2016-17 high school basketball season came to a close.
As we begin to start figuring out who will be selected for All-West Tennessee, let’s look back at the top six moments from the boys basketball season.
All-West Tennessee is set to be released in late April.
1. Dedric Boyd’s 33 points in state quarterfinals – In his second game back from a knee injury, Haywood’s Boyd put on a show in the Class AA quarterfinals and proved that he is one of the best players in the state.
The Eastern Kentucky signee scored 33 points in leading the Tomcats to an 82-72 win over Brainerd. Of those 33 points, 19 came in the fourth quarter.
2. Humboldt wins Class A sectional in overtime – Despite having an 11-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, Humboldt couldn’t put Middleton away to advance to the Class A state tournament.
Middleton had a chance to take a lead with four seconds left, but a made free throw was called off for a lane violation. Humboldt went on to win 66-60 in overtime in front of a packed house.
3. Haywood continued winning with Dedric Boyd out – When Boyd went down with an injury on Jan. 24 during the first meeting of the season against Ripley, the chance of Haywood reaching the state tournament was called into question.
But the Tomcats won 10 of their next 11 games without him, including wins in the District 15-AA and Region 8-AA championship games before Boyd returned in the Class AA sectional against South Side.
4. Josh Welch returns to lead Crockett County to first-ever district crown – Welch missed most of the regular season district schedule with a knee injury, and that put the Cavaliers as the No. 3 seed heading into the District 13-AA tournament.
But Welch played in the tournament, leading his team to a win over Westview in the semifinals and an overtime win over Dyersburg in the championship game. He scored 32 points in the title game.
5. Daryl McElrath breaks program record in district game – In a home game against the team favored to win District 15-A, Riverside’s McElrath, a junior, broke the program record for points in a game.
He scored 48 points in a 76-69 victory over Middleton.
6. Lexington falls to Dyersburg twice on last-second shots – For fans, the games had to be exciting, but Lexington could go without any more last-second shots for a while.
The two teams played three times, and two of those meetings were decided by Dyersburg, who finished the regular season with one loss and ranked in Class AA, hitting buzzer beaters to win. One happened at home for a 51-50 loss, and the other was in the Region 7-AA quarterfinals at Dyersburg, 72-70.
Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.