GALLATIN — Station Camp’s boys basketball team clinched its first trip to the state tournament in school history on Monday evening, but it had to survive a late Independence rally to do it.
The Bison held off the visiting Eagles for a 67-64 victory in a Class AAA sectional in front of a packed Station Camp gym.
Station Camp (35-1) led the entire contest, but had to watch as Independence senior Pierre Watkins’ last-second 3-point attempt miss its target before celebrating the landmark victory. Independence (27-4) outscored Station Camp 33-26 in the fourth quarter as the pace quickened in the final period.
“That was one of our points of emphasis — get a lead and keep it,” Station Camp junior point guard Chase Freeman said. “We had to put our foot on the gas and not let up.”
The Bison led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, holding a 39-28 lead with 2:10 left in the period.
Station Camp junior Kody Eden scored 18 points to lead the Bison, followed by 16 from senior Keaton Dotson and 12 from Freeman.
Eagles junior Grayson Murphy scored 30 points, with 16 of those coming in the fourth quarter.
“I saw him warm up and saw his first two shots, and we had to go to a different defense just to guard him,” Station Camp coach Seth Massey said. “We had to make him really work.”
Murphy hit four of Independence’s nine 3-pointers.
“He’s a full-out stud,” Freeman said of Murphy. “He knows how to play basketball. It was tough guarding him. We just wanted to contain him as much as we could.”
TSSAA postseason basketball pairings, results