Nick Steen (10) and the Fulton Falcons faced the Fayette-Ware Wildcats in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal at the Murphy Center on Thursday, March 14, 2024, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Fulton boys won 56-49. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — By no means did Jody Wright, the longtime Fulton head boys’ basketball coach, expect an encore performance this week of what his players reeled off in the 2023 state tournament.
Yes, essentially the entire roster of Falcons was back from last year, when the Falcons won three games in Murfreesboro by 14-, 40- and 30-point margins, respectfully, en route to the championship.
But Wright has coached in more than 20 state tournaments.
And he can attest to how every tournament plays out differently — and he knows a tough first-round draw when he sees it.
Fayette-Ware has had his attention since the brackets came out more than a week ago.
And his coach’s intuition was right. It wasn’t an easy Round One.
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After leading the entire first half, Fulton needed a fourth-quarter rally and keen free-throw shooting late to eke out a 56-49 win in the Class 3A state quarterfinals late Thursday night at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
“We knew coming in how good they were and how athletic they were. They demonstrated that tonight,” Wright said of Fayette-Ware. “Physical guards. They were so tough. Hard to guard.
“They made our life miserable for us.”
Denaj Kimber scored 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting and Mr. Basketball winner Tyler Lee added 12, but a myriad of other players around those two stepped into the hero role for a fleeting moment or two to complete the job.
Fulton (33-2) won its 15th game in a row and will play Upperman (30-4) at 8:45 p.m. Central time on Friday night.
The Bees have a 19-game win streak and are led by stellar freshman Ty Cobb (19.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists per game). Upperman routed Hume-Fogg on Thursday, 61-41.
“Really impressed with them tonight. They took on a team that was far more athletic than we were and just dismantled them,” Wright said of Upperman
“Really ran some good stuff. Well coached. We’ll have our hands full with those guys. They’re good.”
Fulton led Thursday by as many as 10 in the first half but only took a 28-25 advantage into the break. Fayette-Ware kept the ball out of Lee’s hands, as he only registered three-field goal attempts in the first 16 minutes.
Moreover, the Wildcats shot 50 percent from the floor to stay in step with Fulton.
The Falcons, meanwhile, didn’t score the final 54 seconds of the first half nor the first 4:34 of the second half. That allowed Fayette-Ware to pull ahead 33-28.
Lee nailed two free throws to finally get Fulton on the board in the second half, and his 3 at the third-quarter buzzer trimmed Fayette-Ware’s lead to 40-38 with 8 minutes to play.
But, still, Fulton’s offense had no flow or productivity to it.
Nick Steen, a freshman starter for Fulton who’s built like a Golden Gloves prodigy, used his muscle to nudge Fulton out front. He broke a 43-all tie with a drive and tough score on his defender in the paint with 4:37 to play. He got another tough bucket down low 2 minutes later to make Fulton’s lead 49-45.
Steen then made two free throws with 1:10 left for a 52-47 advantage. He finished with nine points, seven rebounds and three steals.
“He’s not built like an ordinary freshman. And he doesn’t play like an ordinary freshman,” Wright said. “What a performance by him — first game on this stage. Nick, he’s had games like that all year for us. We call on him to guard a variety of people: whether it be bigs he can guard with his body or quicker guys on the perimeter.
“But he made a couple moves (in the fourth) where he just put his head down and got to the rim.”
Dexter Lewis came up big, too. He made a 3 late in the third quarter to start igniting Fulton’s surge. And he made two foul shots with 37 seconds left in the fourth for the 56-49 winning margin.
Fulton made just 12 of 19 foul shots against Fayette-Ware but went 7 of 8 in the final two minutes.
“Proud of our toughness. Man, that third quarter was not real good, especially the first five minutes,” Wright said. “Bad shots. Bad possessions. Lot of standing around on defense.
“Found some toughness there the last couple of minutes in that fourth quarter. Proud of the resilience. It’s easy to talk about toughness, but you have to show it when it matters most.”
BOXSCORE: Fulton 56, Fayette-Ware 49
Fulton (56): Denaj Kimber 15, Nick Steen 9, Dexter Lewis 5, Taj Kimber 8, Tyler Lee 12, Derrick Smith 5, Travis Turner 2
F-Ware (49): Eric Jones 11, Tarecous Stevens 14, Jeremiah Hayes 13, Tacarien Freeman 11
Fulton 16 12 10 18 — 56
FAYW 11 14 15 9 — 49
FG Percentage: Fulton 20-48 (41.7 percent), Fayette-Ware 22-43 (51.2)
3-point Percentage: Fulton 4-8, Fayette-Ware 1-10
Free-Throws: Fulton 12-19, Fayette-Ware 4-12
Rebounds: Fulton 27, Fayette-Ware 29
Turnovers: Fulton 8, Fayette-Ware 15
5STAR PHOTOS powered by SmartBank — Fulton vs. Fayette-Ware (2024 Class 3A quarterfinals)