How Christian Alston catapulted Bartlett basketball's TSSAA basketball state tournament run

MURFREESBORO – Christian Alston scored a double-double in Bartlett’s 51-45 win over Brentwood in Wednesday’s TSSAA boys basketball state tournament Class 4A quarterfinal game. 

Even so, Alston wanted to do more.  

“Down the stretch, I didn't feel like I closed how I would want to close a game,” Alston said. “I had a lot of people score on me at the end and I had a couple turnovers throughout the whole game.” 

That’s the mentality Alston has had this season that’s helped him propel the Panthers back to the TSSAA boys basketball state tournament for the first time since the 2022 season. Bartlett (32-4) plays Cookeville (31-3) at 9:30 a.m. Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the Class 4A semifinals at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center. 

It’s also the mentality that could be the difference in helping them get to the championship game for the first time since 2001.  

"Keep the pressure on (Alston),” Bartlett coach Dion Real said. “He’s a good basketball player.” 

It wasn’t a vintage Bartlett performance, by any means. But as Real reinforced several times during the postgame press conference, his team did win.

We’re there missed layups? Sure. Missed opportunities to extend the lead, absolutely.  

But they also were able to overcome those shortcomings to get one game closer to playing on the last Saturday of the basketball season. 

“There’s always nerves,” said Bartlett junior KJ Neville after the game. “We hold ourselves to a high standard. We’re not very happy about how we won today, but we got it done and we were good enough to make it happen.” 

It wasn’t all bad, though, for Bartlett.  

Despite having a down game offensively, they did have some big defensive moments, reinforcing a gameplay Real has instilled all season.  

Alston, who’s typically a perimeter player, led the team in rebounds. And his team shot 22-for-28 from the free throw line.  

"They’re teenagers,” Real said. “‘Hey, enjoy the moment. That’s going to be the biggest thing we’re going to talk about going into Friday.” 

2024 STATE TOURNAMENT BRACKETS:TSSAA boys basketball state tournament 2024 brackets

And Alston wants to make the most of his final season of high school basketball. He said he doesn’t feel any nerves being back in Murphy Center to close out his high school career.  

Any pressure to perform will come from him because he knows how far this team can go when he plays well.  

“Not too nervous,” Alston said of any pregame jitters of being back in the Murfreesboro. “Just wanting to finish the job.” 

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @wynstonw__.