How Fairview basketball showed first TSSAA state tournament appearance was no accident

MURFREESBORO − Nathan Dillingham isn't quite sure what happened to his nose.

Late in the second quarter of Thursday's TSSAA Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal between Fairview and Brainerd, Dillingham took a charge from the Panthers' Quintus Broadnax and absorbed an inadvertent limb to his face. While Dillingham couldn't relay more specifics, Fairview's trainer told him his nose was broken.

First, Dillingham got the blood wiped off his face. Next, he spearheaded what was nearly one of the most incredible comebacks in Tennessee state tournament history.

The Yellowjackets, who trailed by 19 points with 2:07 remaining, scored 16 unanswered points in 80 seconds, bringing the Murphy Center to its feet. Brainerd held on to win, 63-60, but Fairview (26-7) ensured its first state appearance won't be forgotten.

"I think it will sink in one day how special what they did just was," said Yellowjackets coach Trey McCoy. "... I think we just proved that we're a program."

McCoy called Fairview's quarterfinal loss a "microcosm" of its season, and it's not hard to see why.

The blow to Dillingham's nose mirrored what happened a few weeks ago when Mays McCoy, Trey's son and the Yellowjackets' leading in points and assists, suffered a torn ACL in the District 9-2A Tournament. Trey McCoy tried to use Mays' injury as a lesson: when life doesn't go your way, "you can either pout about it or keep rolling." Fairview got new warmup shirts with the hashtag #Play4Mays on the back.

"We had to ... give it our best, give it our all," said senior forward Jon Sawyer. "Because we know he would have."

Even as Fairview trailed by large margins throughout the second half, Trey McCoy reminded them they belonged during every timeout. This wasn't an accident. We didn't have a cupcake of a path to get here. What happened during the final 127 seconds was a matter of the Yellowjackets believing those things.

Brainerd coach Levar Brown said the Panthers took their feet off the gas late, but Fairview had still to take advantage of that complacency. A quick 8-0 run forced Brown to sub his starters back in. It was too late to stop the shift of momentum. Dillingham, who finished with 27 points, and Bryce Embry hit 3-pointers, and with 41 seconds left, the Yellowjackets were within 59-56.

"I felt like we all had a new fire inside of us," Dillingham said. "We realized we were right there."

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Even after the final buzzer, the crowd saluting Fairview's effort validated Trey McCoy's belief that his program is for real.

"I think everybody in the building probably thought it was over," he said. "The biggest thing was just the energy. That speaks to the heart of these kids."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.