Ray’Quan Watson led the Oak Ridge Wildcats to a 2025 Class 4A State Semifinal win over Whitehaven, 59-53, on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — The Oak Ridge boys basketball team (31-3) advanced to its first state championship game since 2014, knocking off Whitehaven, 59-53, at MTSU’s Murphy Center on Friday night.
Since the game ended late, here are the big takeaways you need to know.
Check out the postgame interview video from Oak Ridge below the story.
THE BIG TAKEAWAYS: Oak Ridge 59, Whitehaven 53
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Oak Ridge didn’t make a field goal the final 10:44 of the contest — and still won.
You read that right.
Shamar Greene scored for Oak Ridge at the 2:44 mark of the third quarter for a 47-38 lead over Whitehaven (32-4).
That was the Wildcats’ final make from the floor.
Oak Ridge (31-3) went 12 of 14 at the foul line from that point forward.
Oak Ridge went 0-for-6 shooting in the fourth. Whitehaven shot 1 of 14 on field goals in the fourth quarter but did actually take a lead (52-51) on that made shot — a layup by Cameron Brown with 2:36 to go.
Oak Ridge got the lead back shortly, though, when Garrett Giles made two foul shots at the 2:10 mark of the fourth.
Whitehaven’s Mr. Basketball winner Taquez Butler, who was 3-for-16 shooting Friday for only eight points, failed to tie Oak Ridge with 43 seconds left. That’s when he hit only 1 of 2 free throws that allowed Oak Ridge to stay ahead 54-53.
Ray’Quan Watson (15 points) made him pay. He sandwiched four made free throws around a Butler 3-point miss to push Oak Ridge ahead 58-53.
Brown of Whitehaven missed a 3 on the other end, and Greene added another free throw for the final six-point margin.
WILLIAMS KEY EARLY FOR OR
Oak Ridge led at halftime, 31-27, and out-rebounded Whitehaven 20-13 in that span.
Senior 6-6 forward Cooper Williams scored 16 in the half and finished with a game-high 20 points.
His 3 at the 1:10 mark in the opening quarter put the Wildcats ahead 14-9.
Williams drained a corner 3 with 4:23 left in the half, giving him 14 points and giving Oak Ridge a 26-20 advantage.
He didn’t back down from Whitehaven’s substantial size and athleticism in the paint. He somehow got a shot off over two defenders, got fouled, made the bucket and the subsequent free throw to give Oak Ridge a 29-24 lead with 1:42 remaining in the second quarter.
Refs wiped his free throw due to a teammate’s lane violation, bringing the score back to 28-24.
No matter.
Charlie Taubenheim, who went 3-f0r-3 on 3s Thursday, sank a corner 3 with 30 seconds left and a 31-26 advantage.
NEXT UP
Oak Ridge will play in the 4A championship game against Hillsboro (33-5) at 6:30 p.m. Central time Saturday.
Hillsboro is back in the finals for the first time since 1956. The Burros are led by senior guard Cortez Graham-Howard, a Mr. Basketball finalist who’s a 6-5 guard committed to North Alabama.
OAK RIDGE vs. Whitehaven — photo gallery.