By Jason Williams
Nashville, TN – With Ensworth being only one victory away from becoming the second team in TSSAA history to win four consecutive state titles, Andrew Fleming is concentrating on his current team’s chance at a state title rather than his program’s chance at history.
Ensworth (18-11) overcame an early deficit to defeat CBHS (17-12) to advance to its fifth overall state championship game in school history.
“I don’t think we’re really focused on being part of the history,” Fleming said. “We’re just focused on winning our state championships and doing our own thing here. We believe in our coaches’ systems and what we’re going to do to win, so we’re excited.”
While most attention was focused on Fleming, it was D’Andre Ferby and Jordan Bone who brought the Tigers from a nine-point deficit in the first quarter.
Mr. Basketball finalist Andrew Fleming (22) struggled early but was key in the Tigers’ 23-9 advantage in the fourth quarter. Photo by Karlee Wakeley.
Ferby finished with 18 points and eight rebounds; Bone added 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
“I think everyone contributed today,” said Ensworth head coach Ricky Bowers. “You’re only as good as the people you practice with, quite frankly. And we’ve had a really good week of practice. All the kids have played hard and been enthusiastic and are giving us good looks. I think we’ve gotten better.”
Ensworth held CBHS guard Josh Bougher, another Mr. Basketball finalist, to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. Ensworth’s game plan defensively was to force Bougher into tough shots, but Bougher said he just wasn’t hitting his shots.
“They didn’t do anything,” Bougher said. “I was getting my shots whenever I wanted. It was just one of those days where you’re not making shots. They weren’t doing anything special. I was just missing shots.”
CBHS also struggled from the free throw line, finishing 10-of-22.
“(Ensworth was) great from the line,” said CBHS head coach Bubba Luckett. “We weren’t. And in close games, even though I think that game was a lot closer that the final score, you gotta knock free throws down.”
CBHS jumped out to a 17-8 lead in the first quarter, but Ensworth was able to throw fresh defenders at the Purple Wave by subbing five players at a time.
“We made some shots, but I thought it was more of our pressure,” Bowers said of his team’s second-quarter comeback. “I thought our defensive intensity picked up tremendously.”
Harrison Deneka led the Purple Wave with 17 points. Brode McLaughlin kept his team in the game in the third quarter and finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Ensworth will play MUS at 7 p.m. Saturday in Allen Arena.
J-Will Sports 