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How Oak Ridge's trip to Blackman High fueled a run to TSSAA basketball state championship

MURFREESBORO ― Oak Ridge coach Aaron Green stared up at the banner in Blackman High School's gym as memories of his last trip to Murfreesboro for the TSSAA boys basketball state tournament began to flood his mind.

The Tigers were holding shootaround at Blackman this week, which coincidentally is the team that handed Green and Oak Ridge a heartbreaking loss in the 2014 Class 3A state championship game.

The banner in the Blaze's gym was not just a reminder for Green, but further motivation to bring a title back to Oak Ridge for the first time since 1963.

The Tigers took one step closer to doing so on Friday, defeating Whitehaven 59-53 in the Class 4A semifinals to secure its first state championship game berth since 2014.

BRACKET: TSSAA boys basketball state tournament brackets, schedule and scores

Oak Ridge plays Hillsboro in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Oak Ridge led by 11 points in with 7:43 remaining in the fourth quarter of that 2014 game before Blackman stormed back to win the game 60-58, as former Blackman star, and current San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, Jauan Jennings, earned state tournament MVP.

"Obviously when you get to this point it doesn't have to be pretty, you just got to find a way to win," Green said after Friday's win over Whitehaven. "Made big free throws. Had big stops down the stretch. I thought we kept our poise and composure when they took the lead because we led most of the game, that was huge."

Oak Ridge led for over 27 minutes in the game, but Whitehaven stormed back in the fourth quarter, taking a one-point lead with 2:36 on the clock.

Oak Ridge's Cooper Williams (35) moves the ball during the semifinal game of the TSSAA Class 4A basketball championship against Whitehaven on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

ALCOA: Why Alcoa’s pursuing TSSAA boys basketball state tournament history with fun-loving approach

The Wildcats had been in similar positions before though. Oak Ridge sent Knoxville West packing in the Region 2-4A quarterfinal after edging out a 62-60 win. Just over a week later, the Wildcats secured their place in the state tournament for the first time since 2021 with a 51-50 win over Sevier County.

After Whitehaven took its fourth quarter lead, Oak Ridge went on an 8-1 run as Ray'Quan Watson hit four free throws while Garrett Giles hit three shots from the stripe. The Tigers were led by Cooper Williams who had 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds.

At the sound of the buzzer, he took a sigh of relief.

"For me it was just a relief because after all that we finally pulled through," Williams said. "I knew we would and I trusted my teammates, my boys, and we went out there and got it done, so one more."

Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at hcampbell@gannett.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TSSAA boys basketball state tournament 2025: Oak Ridge advances to 4A title

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Topics

  • Basketball
  • State
  • TSSAA Basketball
  • TSSAA Basketball State
  • State Championship

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