Top plays from the first day of the TSSAA basketball state tournament

From monster dunks, chase down blocks and buzzer-beating 3's, the first day of the state tournament had it all. 

Here's a look at all of the top plays from a fun first day of state tournament basketball.

Howard's Di'corius Knight makes the block from out of nowhere

While his team did end up falling 78-75 to East Nashville, Knight provided one of the highlights of the day with this chase down block. On what looked like an easy layup for East Nashville, Knight came sprinting down the court to prevent the basket.

Wooddale's Chandler Lawson with a monster slam

The first of two massive slams by the Oregon signee, Lawson made this dunk look easy. Taking the pass, he drove in and finished off the uncontested dunk with ease. 

Lawson led all scorers with 20 points on 10-16 of shooting with 14 of those points coming in the second half. 

Whitehaven's Matthew Murrell finishes the break with a monster dunk

No one was getting Murrell's way when he went up for a dunk. 

The first of four he had on the day, Murrell stole the ball and proceeded to put it away with power. He finished the game with a team-high 17 as Whitehaven cruised past Sevier County 60-24.

Brainerd's Kevin Halfacre hits the 3 to beat the halftime buzzer

Tied at 31, Halfacre gave Brainerd the momentum going into the half with this shot. He finished the game with 16 and hit on 4-5 three-point attempts as the Panthers held on to beat Pearl Cohn 76-73. 

Whitehaven's Matthew Murrell rises up over a defender for a powerful dunk

The Sevier County player made a smart business decision moving out of the way when he Murrell rise up for this dunk. 

To go along with his team-high 17 points, Murrell also led the Tigers with 4 steals. 

Pearl Cohn's Miquan Tucker with the chase down block

While it wasn't the ending Tucker wanted, he can sleep well knowing that he played well especially on the defensive side of the ball. He recorded a game-high five blocks including this block in transition that would have been an easy Brainerd basket. 

Wooddale's Chandler Lawson gets the block and then slams it home

While Lawson led the Cardinals with 20 points, he also recorded a team-high 5 blocks. This is one of them that led to one of his four dunks during Wooddale's 79-61 win over Austin-East.

Whitehaven's Matthew Murrell finishes the alley-oop over his teammate

While it looked like another Whitehaven player was going to get a dunk off of the alley-oop, Murrell rose up just a little bit higher and slammed it home for his final dunk of the night. 

Franklin's Reese Glover hits the off-balance 3 to beat the buzzer

It looked like Glover's 3 to beat the halftime buzzer would give Franklin a lot of momentum going into the second half. They jumped out early in the second half but couldn't stop a massive run by the Bulldogs midway through the third.

Glover finished with a game-high 24 points on 6-11 shooting including 4-6 from beyond the arc. 

Bearden's Drew Pember closes the game with an alley-oop

Already up big, Pember silenced the Franklin crowd with this alley-oop over the final few minutes of the game. The Tennessee signee had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Bulldogs cruised past Franklin 76-46. 

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Reach Joe Spears at jspears2@gannett.com or 731-343-4923. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @joe_spears7.