How Giles County basketball hustled its way into TSSAA state tournament semifinal

MURFREESBORO − Giles County underwent an interesting transformation Thursday in the Class 2A quarterfinals of the TSSAA Boys Basketball State Championships.

At the tipoff the Bobcats appeared to be at a distinct disadvantage because of the unusual size Power Center Academy from Memphis possessed. By the end of the game, however, Giles County, with its grit and hustle, had turned the tables on the Knights and used it to claim a 70-68 win at Murphy Center.

"Other than the point guard they don't have a kid under about 6-foot-2 or 6-3," said Giles County senior guard Jack Harper. "It's hard to simulate going against that kind of length in practice."

Giles County (27-8) plays Memphis Douglass (27-8) at 6 p.m. Friday in a Class 2A semifinal. It's the Bobcats' first state tournament win since they won the Class AA championship with former Vol Tyler Smith, who is now an assistant on staff.

Power Center, with three starters at least 6-6, was taller at every position than Giles County. That's why Bobcats coach Nick Campbell made his five starters practice against six defenders to prepare for the matchup.

"It's hard to simulate their length and athleticism in practice," Campbell said. "We did a lot of five-on-six, where the defense had six to try to make us work a little bit harder on offense and go rebound it a little bit better."

The tactic worked like a charm. Giles County overcame a sluggish start where it fell behind by nine points early in the second quarter to take a 30-29 halftime lead.

Outworking Power Center (24-8) wasn't enough late after the Knights took a one-point lead early and again late in the fourth quarter.

That's when Giles County's keen 3-point shooting took over and set up a thrilling finish.

The Bobcats retook the lead at 63-61 on a 3-pointer by Steven King deep in the left corner.

After Power Center tied it up at 65, Giles County's Jaceion Coffee made another big hustle play grabbing a rebound off a missed Bobcats' free throw and made the put back. That gave the Bobcats a 68-65 lead and a pair of free throws by Harper with 24 seconds remaining put them up 70-65.

Power Center Academy's Nikolas Wiggins made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to trim the deficit to two (70-68) and Giles County's Jake Cardin missed a free throw with three seconds left to give the Knights one last chance.

After calling a timeout Power Center got the ball to Wiggins, but he missed a shot at the buzzer.

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Giles County made 9-of-26 3-pointers and Harper was 5-of-8. That came as no surprise to Power Center coach Marcus Williams. He actually used the same practice tactic to defend the Bobcats' 3-point shooting that Campbell had used to offset the Knights' height advantage.

"It's crazy; I guess great minds think alike because we practiced five-on-seven," Williams said. "I had my boys do that to guard the 3-point line. To chase them off the 3-point line because we knew Jack Harper could shoot the ball. Even though we practiced to stop him, he hit some real big shots."

Harper led Giles County with 23 points and Coffee added 17. Wiggins led Power Center with 27.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.

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