Stratford falls to Fulton, 73-72, in double overtime in Class AA semifinals

Michael Murphy
The Tennessean
Stratford's Juwon Carpenter (1) defends against Fulton's Edward Lacy (14) during a Division I Class AA semifinals game between Fulton and Stratford at the TSSAA boys state basketball championships at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Friday, March 16, 2018.

MURFREESBORO — Third-year Stratford coach Romie Reed barely recognized his Spartans in Friday’s Class AA semifinal matchup with Fulton at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center.

There were no major hairdo changes, and every one of his players donned the same jersey number they did in Thursday’s quarterfinal rout of Tyner. 

It simply wasn’t the same team, though.

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“I’m not going to candy coat it with them, and make them feel like I’m happy and energized,” Reed said following his team’s 73-72 double-overtime defeat to the Falcons. “I’m happy because we have a good group of kids, and we played hard and with great energy and effort. But when the calls didn’t go our way — times when we’ve typically shown some moxie and poise — we got frustrated. And it showed.

“Anybody with a brain could see it in our body language.”

Even with Stratford clinging to a 38-30 advantage in the closing minutes of the third quarter, Reed could see that something was off. And with each lazy or errant pass that resulted in one of the team’s 21 turnovers, every one of its 10 missed free throws and each of the 24 fouls whistled against them, that fact only grew clearer. 

By the time Fulton tied things up with a pair of Don Davis free throws with 4:53 in regulation, the Spartans had reached their boiling point. 

“When I got my first foul I got real frustrated,” Stratford senior Michael Wallace said. “It just went from there. I was frustrated the whole game. I couldn’t keep my head. I played a terrible second half and we just didn’t come out with the W.”

Wallace, who finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds on Friday, was one of two Stratford players to foul out. Juwan Carpenter, who tallied 12 points in the losing effort, was also whistled for a fifth foul during the second overtime period. 

Jahari Reed and Ivan Buford each finished with 14 points for Stratford (25-7), which shot just 3 of 13 from beyond the arc. 

As hard as Wallace and the rest of the Spartans were on themselves, however, Reed took his fair share of the blame following the frustrating finish. 

“I’m pretty sure there are some things that I could have done better, and I’ll look at my own mistakes and things I didn’t do so well,” Reed said. “It’s not just the kids, that’s preparation. Maybe it’s something I didn’t do right the night before or the day of with regards to pregame. 

“I just thought tonight we let our old M.O. come back.”

Reach Michael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-269-8026 and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports