Blackman Middle boys build big lead, win county title

Blackman came into Siegel Middle School's gym Thursday night, survived a second-half run and walked out a champion.

Building a big lead in the middle quarters Thursday night in the Rutherford County Middle School championship, Blackman held off the host school for a 62-49 win and the tournament title.

The lead was 41-20 midway through the third quarter before Siegel mounted a fierce comeback, cutting the deficit to 45-35 by the end of the period.

Siegel got as close as eight before Blackman gathered itself, pushing the lead back to 12.

"We told our team before the game that basketball teams make runs," Blackman coach Eric Moore said, "and we have a lot respect Siegel. They're very well-coached."

Siegel made one more brief run, having a 3-pointer that could have cut the lead to seven with three minutes left rim out, and Blackman never was threatened again.

Javon Nelson and Jabari Mastin both had 16 points for Blackman. Nelson had a key three-point play in the game-clinching stretch, making it 54-41.

Jacob Beasley added 12.

"We were pretty well battle-tested," Moore said. "I can think of at least six basketball games where we were behind by 10 or 12 points and found a way to come back an crawl out of the hole. So being behind, playing close games, we're used to it."

Jaylan Wetzel was the game's top scorer with 22 for Siegel. Martise Jackson added 11.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Nelson, Beasley, Mastin, Jackson, Matthew Schneider (Siegel), Zion Swader (Oakland), Andre Turrentine (Rockvale), Ross Prosser (Christiana), Jerand Kelly (Stewarts Creek), Patrick Smith Jr. (Rock Springs), Damien Hartley (La Vergne), Tommarius Smith (Whitworth-Buchanan), Jordan Dewalt (Smyrna), Carrington Allen (Central Magnet).