Union City's basketball season ends at state despite Malaki Brooks' 37-point night

MURFREESBORO – Malaki Brooks sat in the press room at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center on Wednesday, his face shot little emotion.

That doesn't mean much normally. Brooks is usually a quiet kid anyway. But this quiet came after Union City's basketball season came to an end. With it came the end of Brooks' high school career. Union City lost to Chattanooga Prep, 85-53, in the TSSAA Class 1A state quarterfinals.

After battling injuries the last two seasons, Brooks put on a show for Union City fans all season. He was a Mr. Basketball finalist. And he dropped 37 points against the Sentinels in a vintage performance for the 6-foot guard.

The 24 hours prior to the final Wednesday’s final buzzer had been chaotic, disappointing and exciting for Brooks, his team and his family.

On Tuesday, Brooks was on the Murphy Center floor to see if he was going to win the Class 1A Mr. Basketball award. He was not selected, Harriman's Jordan McCullum garnered the award.

“I really wasn’t sad that I didn’t win Mr. Basketball,” Brooks said. “I was just happy that we got to play today.”

Not too far away, Brooks’ mom, Tonya King, felt differently. Brooks’ cousin, MJ Brown, won two Mr. Basketball awards in 2007-08.

“I was so disappointed that he didn’t get Mr. Basketball,” King said. “But when I talked to him, he was like, Momma, I’m good. I’m trying to get that gold ball.”

Wednesday morning was full of nerves for King, she said she was praying often throughout the morning before the Golden Tornadoes (29-6) made their way to Murphy Center.

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Once the team arrived at the arena, King felt calmer. She still had nerves, but they were lessened. As the game went along, though, the nerves came back in a hurry.

Brooks was knocked around during the game against a bigger Sentinel squad. He hit the floor several times in the first half, hard.

“I’m just sitting there calm,” King said. “Then I got up, then I just started praying.”

At the end of the first half, Brooks hit a 3-pointer nearly from the MTSU logo at center court. That shot gave him 18 points in the first 16 minutes.

Brooks was giving his best effort throughout the game, even when the final result was all but finalized.

“It was awesome, I was just so ecstatic,” King said. “I’m so proud of him. It’s amazing to have a son that’s so humble. He loves the sport, he eats, sleeps and breathes basketball.”

Chattnooga Prep coach Christian Collins knew Brooks was going to be a big factor for the Golden Tornadoes. Brooks delivered and earned Collins’ respect.

“If I had a hat on, I’d take off my hat to him,” Collins said. “He was one of the main guys on our scouting report for the last two weeks. He’s a phenomenal player. … Whatever school he’s going to next year, they’ve got my recommendation for him.

“He should’ve got Mr. Basketball, in my opinion.”

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Golden Tornado coach Shane Sisco recalled preseason conditioning. When the team went on runs around the area, Brooks often took the lead early. Toward the end, he fell back to surrender the lead to a teammate. Brooks tried to push himself even harder to catch his teammate and finish the run first.

Sisco admired the way Brooks has accepted the challenges put ahead of him over the years.

“When your best player does those things and your best player leads by example, they don’t have to be verbal,” Sisco said. “Malaki is a pretty quiet kid. He doesn’t say a whole lot. He lets the way he works and the way he plays speak for himself. That speaks volume about his character. Some players want to be coddled and look for excuses. He wanted to be coached.”