Forty years ago the 1985 Blue Devils staged a Cinderella run all the way to the state tournament.
Lebanon鈥檚 2025 edition has a ways to go to reach the ball at the Glass House. But the Blue Devils found the glass sneaker still fit going into last night鈥檚 District 7-4A championship after a pair of rip-roaring finishes to games in the tournament played at their Campbell Brandon Gym/Hester Gibbs Court dance floor.
Start with Saturday鈥檚 51-48 semifinal win over top-seeded LaVergne, which had run the table in district play during the season and rode a 13-game winning streak into the tournament.
The Wolverines led 17-8 early in the second quarter before the Blue Devils battled back. Jackson Clem鈥檚 driving layup brought the 鈥渧isitors鈥 (as the lower-seeded team, Lebanon was technically the visiting team) to within 20-19 by halftime.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e so long, so athletic,鈥 Lebanon coach Jim McDowell said of the Wolverines. 鈥淲e would have a hard time matching up with them playing man. We鈥檙e kind of forced to do some things different, zone defensively.鈥
By the time the music cranked back up in the second half, it was senior Brody Reasonover who has Lebanon rocking and rolling for the second time in less than 24 hours, burying four third-quarter 3-pointers to take Blue Devil Nation from a ball to a rock concert. His first triple gave Lebanon a 22-20 lead and his last a 35-31 lead late before LaVergne cut the margin to one going into the fourth.
鈥淗e shoots a lot like that in practice, really the last two years,鈥 McDowell said of Reasonover. 鈥淗e鈥檚 had some moments in some games where he鈥檚 made some big shots.
鈥淏ut the last two nights, that鈥檚 what we talked about playing here, playing at home. Nobody has shot in this gym as much as he has. He grew up in this gym with his brother playing here, playing AAU and all those different things.鈥
The dueling LHS鈥檚 waltzed back and forth throughout the fourth quarter before Blue Devil big man Marques Anglin cut in. His lane jumper put the Blue Devils in front 45-44 with 3:16 to play and his three-point play with 1:30 opened a 49-44 lead.
But two left feet produced a pair of Lebanon turnovers. A foul on a 3 sent Steven Shannon to the free-throw line with a chance to bring the Wolverines into a tie with 29.7 seconds left. But he missed the middle foul shot, keeping the Blue Devils in front.
Amaure Manier hit 1 of 2 free throws to build Lebanon鈥檚 edge to two. LaVergne missed a tying shot on the other end and Anglin grabbed the rebound. Anglin was fouled and hit a foul shot with half a second left to send the Blue Devils to last night鈥檚 final against Cookeville with an 11-16 record and also booked a first-round Region 4-4A home game Saturday night before the remainder of the tournament also comes to Brandon Gym.
鈥淲e鈥檙e kind of playing with house money,鈥 McDowell said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e playing in our house.
鈥淲e had a really good turnout from fans. LaVergne had won 13 in a row. When you鈥檙e sitting there, some of those neutral fans, whether it鈥檚 Cookeville or Stewarts Creek or whoever else is here watching 鈥 a lot of times it鈥檚 like the NCAA tournament games, those 1-16 games or those longshot games, they want to see the underdog win. We鈥檙e definitely the underdog here so it was nice to have everybody pulling for us down the stretch.鈥
Reasonover racked up five triples in leading Lebanon with 17 points while Avery Harris鈥 nine points included a pair of treys. Manier added eight points, Anglin six in the fourth, Clem five, Cash Williams four and T.J. Searcy two.
Landon Bryant buried a pair of 3s in leading LaVergne with 14 points while Sherman鈥檚 13 included three triples as the Wolverines slipped to 17-8 going into last night鈥檚 consolation contest with Stewarts Creek.
Reasonover, Harris shoot Smyrna out of tourney鈥檚 opening danceTo watch the clock tick toward midnight at the Cinderella postseason ball, an underdog first has to win the first dance.
Brody Reasonover took the lead and the rest of the Blue Devils followed as Lebanon took the first step with a 72-61 come-from-behind win over Smyrna in the elimination round of the District 7-4A tournament Friday at LHS鈥 Campbell Brandon Gym/Hester Gibbs Court.
Smyrna led 52-47 going into the fourth quarter. But Reasonover, who warmed up with two 3-pointers during a second-quarter rally, caught fire with three triples sandwiched around an Avery Harris heave as the Blue Devils suddenly found themselves with a 67-57 lead.
The Bulldogs built a 16-12 first-quarter lead. But Reasonover racked up two tripes during the second to draw the Devils into a 25-25 tie. Harris鈥 fadeaway put Lebanon in front 30-29 and Amaure Manier came off the bench and his spark, capped by a driving layup, sent the hosts into halftime ahead 37-34.
鈥淎maure is very skilled,鈥 Lebanon coach Jim McDowell said of the nephew of his former Blue Devil teammate, Malcolm Manier. 鈥淲e threw him in the fire last year as a freshman. He was probably not quite ready. But he grew up a lot. He鈥檚 progressed over the season. He plays with a lot of confidence. He鈥檚 very talented. He gets the guys involved, but he鈥檚 stepped up and made plays of his own when it鈥檚 needed. For a sophomore, that鈥檚 big time.鈥
Harris matched Reasonover鈥檚 five triples as each had three in the fourth quarter. Harris led four Blue Devils in double figures with 19 points while Marques Anglin added 17, mostly from inside. Reasonover finished with 15 and Cash Williams 12. Manier managed eight points and T.J. Searcy a free throw.
Yon Kinzer was unstoppable for Smyrna, sinking 8 of 10 free throws on his way to a game-high 27 points while Tyreque McCarver collected 13 as the Bulldogs ended a 13-15 season.
Wilson Central succumb to Stewarts CreekWilson Central didn鈥檛 have enough gas in the tank to overtake Stewarts Creek as the Red Hawks knocked the Wildcats out of the District 7-4A tournament with a 57-48 win in last night鈥檚 first-round finale at Lebanon鈥檚 Campbell Brandon Gym/Hester Gibbs Court.
The Wildcats held an 11-10 edge at the first-quarter break as Towan Siler scored the lat of his nine early points (which included a pair of 3-pointers) on a pullup jumper from the left elbow.
A 3 from the top of the circle from big man Grafton Graves widened the lead to 14-10 early in the second. The Wildcats had a few more leads during a back-and-fourth period until a 3 from the top by Landon Nelson put Stewarts Creek in front 21-18 2:08 before halftime. The Red Hawks led 23-20 at halftime and quickly widened the margin to 29-20 early in the second half.
But a 7-0 Central spurt enabled the Wildcats to climb to within 29-27. But the Red Hawks had a 7-0 run of their own later in the third period and ended the quarter ahead 41-33.
Stewarts Creek overcame the early loss of Dez Carpenter to a first-quarter injury thanks in no small part to Sean Goggins, who scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the third quarter. Nelson finished with 15 as the Red Hawks advanced to a semifinal match with Cookeville with a 14-13 record.
Siler sank three triples as he led his team with 19 points in his Wildcat finale. Caden Clay collected 12 points while Ja鈥橫ichael Mitchell finished with five, Ross Perlick four, Graves and Tristan Blackburn a 3 each and Cooper Jones two as Central slipped to a final 12-16 record.
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