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Rebels Fall Short In Quarterfinals

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MURFREESBORO (March 15) — The McKenzie Rebels were unable to keep up their hot streak Wednesday night. The Buccaneers of University School Johnson City (USJC) ended McKenzie’s run at the state basketball championship by a score of 66-53. McKenzie closes the season with a 22-5 record along with district and region championship titles.

The first quarter of play resulted in the Buccaneers taking an early lead and closing the quarter with a 25-15 lead over the Rebels. McKenzie won the tip but was unable to score. USJC was hot from behind the arc hitting their first of six three-pointers in the quarter. Marquez Taylor posted two points from inside following a Tate Surber steal. The Rebels trailed 3-2 with 7:16 on the clock in the first quarter.

USJC’s Andrew Cole responded with the trey and Peter Boynewicz added three more points increasing the lead to 9-2 at the 5:39 mark of the opening quarter. Points by Taylor and Surber tied things up at 11-11 but the Buccaneers continued hitting buckets from downtown. At the end of the first quarter, USCJ led 25-15 over McKenzie.

The Rebels were able to make adjustments in the second quarter and outscored the Buccaneers 15-12 narrowing the USJC lead 37-30. McKenzie shot 46% from the floor compared to USJC’s 27%. Taylor had seven points, Bryson Steele had two points from a layup and Stafford Roditis and Surber each hit a three-pointer. Scoring for the Buccaneers was Cole, Mason Croley, Andrew Finney and AJ Murphy.

McKenzie continued to work their way back against USJC in the third quarter. The Rebels outscored the Buccaneers 16-13 with a 54% field goal percentage. Towards the end of the quarter, McKenzie was within two points of USJC (46-44) and again (48-46) with 1:20 left in the quarter. USJC’s Cole scored the final points of the quarter putting the lead at 50-46.

The fourth quarter proved costly for the Rebels as they shot 27% from the floor going 3 for 11 and were outscored 16-7. The Rebels were forced to turn up the pressure. Missed shots and being out-rebounded were the Achilles heel for the quarter. The final score was 66 USJC, 53 McKenzie.

Final statistics for the night, McKenzie was 23 of 53 from the floor and 3 of 16 from beyond the arc. The Rebels scored four points from free throws going 4 of 10. Taylor was the leading scorer with 22 points followed by Surber with 13, Steele with 10, Stafford Roditis with 5 and Zavier Webber with 3. Leading the Buccaneers in scoring was Cole with 24 points followed by Murphy with 16.

McKenzie was out-rebounded 33 to 30. Leading in rebounds was Taylor with 4 and Webber with 3. Cole led USJC with 4. Surber had three blocked shots in the game versus the one block for Mason Croley for the Buccaneers.

At the end of the game, Rebels Head Coach John Wilkins commented on how proud he was of the team making it to Murfreesboro. Regarding the loss, he stated that he and the team were obviously disappointed but come Saturday afternoon there will be seven teams disappointed in not taking home the gold.