By Noah McKay
The Upperman Bees run through the Class 3A state tournament ended in a 52-30 loss to reigning state champion Fulton in the semifinal round on Friday night at the Murphy Center.
The Bees were unable to overcome a slow start and season-high 28 turnovers as a historic season concluded.
“Turned the ball over too many times,” said UHS head coach Bobby McWilliams. “We hadn’t really seen that kind of pressure with that kind of structure, and obviously it took us out of a lot of things we wanted to do. Give Fulton credit.”
The Fulton pressure created havoc early as the Bees struggled to get the ball across half-court. The turnovers allowed the Falcons to race out to a 17-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“We got off to a terrible start,” said McWilliams. “But we finally settled in and started competing.”
The Bees rallied back in the second quarter as the defense settled in and freshman point guard Ty Cobb rattled off seven straight points followed by an and-one by Bronzden Chaffin to cut the deficit to 22-17 at halftime.
A Kam Bush layup midway through the third quarter made it 25-21, but the Falcons raised the pressure again, jumpstarting a 13-0 run to make it 38-21 with five minutes to play. Chaffin scored five straight to answer, but the balanced Fulton attack proved too much as they rolled to their second-straight state championship game.
“Most of it was (Fulton’s) pressure,” said McWilliams. “They were able to get us in spots where our primary ballhandlers had to get rid of the ball. Once we got tired it magnified in the second half. Their length in the guard spots probably had as much to do with anything. They won the state for a reason. They’re really, really good.”
Brayden Roberts led the Bees with 10 points. Cobb and Chaffin each scored nine with Bush scoring two.
It was the final game for seniors Roberts, Bush, Clayton Harris and Isaiah Helms. The senior class made two state tournaments in 2021 and 2024, and maintained a competitive team during two rebuilding seasons for Upperman.
The Bees ended the season with a 30-5 record. They were the District 7/AAA regular season and tournament champions along with the Region 4/3A tournament champions. They made the program’s eighth state tournament and third appearance in the semifinal round.
“They don’t have anything to be disappointed about,” said McWilliams. “When they look back in just a few weeks… they’re going to look back (and see) this was a pretty incredible run. We thought maybe we would be a year-or-so away, but that wasn’t the case. This team was good enough. They deserved to be here. A lot of that is due to our senior leadership. I’m just really proud of them… It’s not our turn yet.”
Upperman will return a young core of players led by Cobb, Chaffin, Evan Huddleston, Jack Torrence, Branson Turnbow and others.
“We’ve got a lot of good, young kids coming back,” said McWilliams. “We talk about the work we’ve got to put in. They see now what it’s going to take to get to that level. We’re excited about the future of Upperman basketball.”
