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BY DAVE LINK
OAK RIDGE — Maryville and Oak Ridge were the last teams standing Tuesday night after the Region 2-4A boys’ tournament semifinals at Wildcat Arena.
Call it survival of the fittest.
Maryville moved closer to repeating as region champion with a 60-30 victory over Farragut in Tuesday’s first region semifinal.
In the second game, Oak Ridge avenged last year’s loss to Bearden in the region semifinals by beating the Bulldogs 56-51.
Oak Ridge will play host to Maryville on Thursday night for the region championship and home-court advantage in Monday’s state sectional round, where a victory advances teams to the state quarterfinals.
“Tonight is the hardest night in high school basketball,” Maryville coach Wes Lambert said. “For us to come out and do what we did, you’ve got to be proud of the boys and hopefully we keep going.”
Oak Ridge lost to Bearden 48-47 last year in the region semifinals when Bulldogs point guard Justin Nordin made a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
In 2023, the Wildcats lost at Karns 78-72 in overtime in the region semifinals.
“We’ve had some unfortunate luck,” Oak Ridge coach Aaron Green said. “Two years ago, we lost in overtime over at Karns on some crazy stuff happening at the end, fouled a 3-point shooter, it goes into overtime and we lose.
“And last year we’re up two and they make a 3 at the buzzer when we weren’t matched up at halfcourt. We were due, man. We were due. I’m just very proud of our guys and happy to win that game.”
Oak Ridge (27-3) is ranked No. 6 in the state in Class 4A by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association. Bearden (28-6) was ranked tied for third and West (21-7) was fifth in Class 4A.
Oak Ridge beat West 62-60 in Saturday’s region quarterfinals.
Here’s how Maryville and Oak Ridge advanced Tuesday night:
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