Powell ends Oak Ridge boys' district win streak in 3-AAA title game

Gary Barnes struggled to regain his composure Saturday night as the celebration continued on the Halls basketball court.

His Powell Panthers had just edged perennial power Oak Ridge 60-58 to win the District 3-AAA tournament championship.

Tears flowed for good reason.

The win ended the Wildcats’ run of five consecutive district tournament titles.

Oak Ridge’s 70-game winning streak against district opponents also fell by the wayside. Before Saturday, the last time the Wildcats lost to a district opponent was Feb. 27, 2014, against Powell in the Region 2 championship game.

“We’ve been knocking on the door with them (Oak Ridge) for the last three years,” said Barnes, who posted his first coaching victory against the Wildcats. “We were finally able to make a big shot and a big stop. This is the biggest win ever for these kids and these seniors.”

Senior Caleb Tripp finally made that “big shot” that Barnes has been looking for the past few seasons against Oak Ridge.

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Tripp scored what proved to be the pivotal score when he connected on a 3-pointer with 58 seconds to play to put Powell in front, 56-53.

Oak Ridge (20-7) forced the Panthers (19-10) to battle back from a 26-16 deficit after one quarter. It was a tight contest the rest of the way with eight ties and 15 lead changes.

Both teams advance to host first-round Region 2-AAA elimination games on Saturday against District 4-AAA opponents.

“You’ve got to give Powell credit,” Oak Ridge coach Aaron Green said. “They’ve got a really good basketball team, and Coach Barnes does a great job.”

Senior guard Josh Woods was the catalyst for the milestone victory.

The tournament MVP scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“I thought he (Woods) was a key,” Green said. “We didn’t do a very good job of guarding him.”

Woods was 5-of-10 from the field and 7-of-9 from the foul line.

“He has come so far since he was a ninth-grader,” Barnes said. “I’m just so proud of him. He can play. He has really been our leader the last month.”

Tripp added 13 points while Westin Reynolds scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Panthers.

Senior post player Seth Caldwell led Oak Ridge with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Marcus Smith had 17 points. Levert Smith scored nine and JaVonte Thomas eight for the Wildcats.

Oak Ridge went cold from both the floor and the free-throw line after the big first quarter.

The Wildcats hit eight of their first 11 field-goal attempts, including five 3-pointers to build the 10-point lead after one quarter. Oak Ridge made just 14 of 29 free throws.

“When you miss 10 free throws in the second half against a good ball team, that’s tough to overcome,” Green said.

Barnes and the Panthers afforded themselves a little more time than usual to celebrate after the game, given the magnitude of the victory.

“Oak Ridge has been the class of the area, but we were tired of hearing about their district winning streak,” Barnes said. “We think a lot of them and respect them – that’s why it’s emotional.”

Mike Blackerby is a freelance contributor