Nick Steen (10) and the Fulton Falcons defeated Portland, 59-50, in a Class 3A state quarterfinal at MTSU’s Murphy Center on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Parker/5Star Preps)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Not that Nick Steen needed to write his name any more on Fulton’s Class 3A state quarterfinal win Wednesday, but when the opportunity arose with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left, he took it.
Steen, a 6-foot-3 junior guard and Mr. Basketball finalist, poked a ball loose from Portland, gathered it and raced in for an emphatic transition dunk.
The score put Fulton ahead comfortably by 11 — and it put quite the punctuation mark on a fantastic showing by Steen and the Falcons.
“It felt great,” Steen said of the jam.
Added Fulton coach Jody Wright: “I’m glad he made it.”
Steen made just about everything Wednesday.
He scored 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting, and he also grabbed 12 rebounds, as Fulton eliminated Portland 59-50 on Wednesday evening at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
Fulton shot 46 percent against Portland (28-7), turned the Panthers over 17 times and limited Portland to 1-of-9 shooting from 3.
And when the score got tight for a bit in the second half, Steen and crew made the game-defining plays to break free.
Defending state champion Upperman (31-5) and its two-time Mr. Basketball winner Ty Cobb await Fulton (25-9) in the Friday semifinal, which is slated for a 12:45 p.m. Central time start.
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HOW THE GAME WAS WON
After a back-and-forth, leading-changing-affair in the second quarter, Fulton raced ahead 39-32 by the midpoint of the third quarter thanks to a 7-0 run that Chaz Wood, Joe Hairston and Justin Burris concocted.
Steen sank a corner 3 with 2:05 left in the third to nudge the Falcons’ lead to 42-34.
Fulton took a 42-36 lead into the fourth.
Wood’s second 3 of the second half ushered Fulton out front, 45-38, at the 7:26 mark of the fourth.
Jamari Martin, a sophomore forward at Fulton, made two timely foul shots midway through the quarter to keep the lead at seven points (49-42).
Steen put back a Martin miss in transition for a 51-42 lead.
Wood finished with eight points. Martin had six. Hairston finished with six.
“That’s the key right there: if we were just The Nick Steen Show,” said Wright, “we’re not here.”
SETTING THE SCENE
Fulton’s matchup with Portland was a true mismatch when you juxtaposition Portland’s state tournament history with Fulton’s. Prior to this week, Portland had but one state-tournament appearance and one state tournament win to show from 2003.
Meanwhile, Fulton has won five state championships and finished runner-up six times.
The Falcons made their 29th overall — and fifth consecutive — state tournament appearance this week in Murfreesboro.
And the game commenced with Fulton flexing its program muscle.
Mr. Basketball finalist and junior guard Nick Steen made his first four shots and Fulton led 17-9 early in the second quarter, having already forced eight Portland turnovers with its patented brand of defense.
Portland, though, adjusted to Fulton’s speed and defensive aggressiveness, taking a one-point lead (22-21) with 3:03 left in the half as Fulton waded through its own issues with turnovers on offense.
Steen knocked in a 3 — giving him a 5-for-5 start from the floor — at the 1:24 mark of the second quarter, and that put Fulton ahead 28-27. Fulton teammate Rayjuan Womble got a transition layup to push Fulton’s advantage to 30-27.
Portland got to the foul line quite a bit, however, in the second quarter because of Fulton foul trouble, and the Panthers made 9 of 12 to keep the Falcons within reach.
Steen finally logged his first field-goal miss at the first-half buzzer, and Fulton led 32-30 at the half.
“(Experience mattered) early, but then we reverted to some sloppy, sloppy basketball,” Wright said. “The start was great.
“But we just had, I guess, a huge brain fart there in the middle of the second quarter. Because it infected all of us. Dumb fouls. Dumb basketball. Just really uncharacteristic of us. But we talked about toughness in the locker room at halftime … it’s not the best team, it’s the toughest team that wins down here. I thought our guys were very resilient there in the second half.”