For a week, the Midway Middle School 7th grade boys basketball players have been playing in 2 separate tournaments; in 2 separate counties. The team would travel to Madisonville for a game only to grab a quick lunch and then travel to Lenoir City for another game. With a lot of help, what follows is our attempt to summarize 2 tournaments in 1 week.
The week of Green Nation basketball started last Saturday in Madisonville. In the morning (2/13), The Jr Waves played Sweetwater. The Wild Cats had a big scorer in number 10. He scored eleven points in the first half. In the 2nd half, Griff Dishner was given the task of stopping him. He succeeded; holding him to only 5 points in the 2nd half. Once Griff put a stop to number 10’s scoring, the Waves slowly reeled them in and took the lead late in the 3rd and never looked back. The final score was 48 32 midway. Jacob Cawood led the team with 15 points and followed by Mason Woody with 13.
Fast forward a few hours and the team arrived in Lenoir City to play CAK. The Waves jumped out early and outscored them 14 to 1 in the first quarter. CAK made a run in the 2nd quarter but strong defense shut them out in the 3rd and the final was 32 to 21. Again we were lead in scoring by Cawood but Mason Woody, Zach Edwards, Colby Ross, and Griff Dishner made many baskets on the fast break to keep CAK(e) honest.
Due to bad weather Monday’s game at LC got postponed so the Waves didn’t play again till Wednesday against Oliver Springs. OS is a very talented, tall team. The game started slow; at the end of the 1st it was tied 7 to 7, then a big 2nd quarter by Cawood, Edwards, and Cameron Hashmi gave the Waves a 22-12 lead at the half. The final ended 35-26 with a great team defensive effort. Cameron Hashmi buried a 3 to seal the deal in the 4th.
Thursday night the Waves played Vonore at Madisonville. Vonore has 2 guards that could shoot the lights out from 3 point land. As a team they hit seven 3 pointers in the game. Cawood brought his A game and scored 27 on the night and Hasmi, Edwards, Hayden Hester, Griff Dishner, Mason Woody, and Jack Lowe all scored for the Green Team. The game was close for a while then Midway took a commanding lead right after half time. Vonore made a run in the 4th but Jack Lowe nailed a 15ft jump shot to bring home the win. Midway won 52 to 45 to clinch a spot in the Madisonville championship game.
Now things get complicated.
Friday night at 8:00 the Waves played at very athletic North Middle team. #22 for them had scored 29 points against Oliver Springs and 19 in another game so Coach O’Toole was prepping his team on defending the hot hand….so who does he turn to? Griff Dishner got the honor of guarding him for most of the night and #22 was held scoreless until the 4th quarter and he ended up with only 6 points. Both teams got off to a slow start with the score being 3 to 2 at the end of 1. Zach Edwards carried Midway in the 2nd quarter scoring 6 of our 10 points making it 13-8 at the half. Midway outscored North 10 to 4 in the 3rd with Cawood warming up and scoring 7 points in the 3rd and 9 in the 4th. Hester and Dishner also scored in the 4th. A big turning point was when North got called for 2 technical’s in the 4th quarter. Down 23 to 12 at the end of 3 North made a huge run in the fourth quarter hitting five 3’s but it wasn’t enough as Midway won 36-27 to clinch a spot in the Lenoir City championship game.
Saturday at noon Midway played Madisonville at Madisonville for 1st place out there. These two teams played each other last year in the championship game and the Waves lost after a hard fought game. This year, for a while, it looked the same. Mason Woody hit a 3 early in the game and along with Hashmi and Cawood scoring kept the game close after one period with Midway trailing 9-11. The Waves closed and the score was tied 19-19 entering halftime. Woody and Cawood did the scoring in the 2nd. After half time the Waves looked winded. Passes were getting picked-off and there appeared to be no hustle. It looked like a case of too many games; not enough rest. Then Griff Dishner and Mason Woody hit some big shots and made some great steals to pull the game close once again; 27-29 Madisonville end of 3. This game looked like a battle between big men as Cawood and #23 from Madisonville was battling each other all night in what seemed like a game of “I did this can you do better?”….or for those 30+, it was a 1980’s dance off. But in the 4th, Cawood got some back up as Zach Edwards hit some big shots and Mason Woody hit a 3 late in the game to give Midway a 40 to 36 win.
5 hours later, the Waves would make their attempt of 2 Championships in 2 counties in a single day. The Waves tipped off at Lenoir City in the championship game vs Concord Christian. Defense lead this game as Midway won the 1st quarter 11-4 and 3rd quarter 11- 6. Six different players scored for Midway; they were Cawood, Edwards, Colby Ross, Hayden Hester, Sammy Hester, and Seth Colyer. Seth had a great week subbing in for Cawood and pulls down boards with a passion. Edwards hit 2 big 3’s in the 2nd half to seal up this win and second championship of the day.
That’s 7 games in 7 days with 7 wins…….and 2 pieces of hardware.
Coach O’Toole added, “since I’ve been at Midway, this is the 4th year playing in the Madisonville tourney, 2nd time playing in the championship and first time winning it. This is the 5th time playing in the Lenoir City tourney, 2nd time in the championship game and 1st time winning it. The current 7th graders have been in 4 championship games, won 3 of them, and finished the regular season as the number one team in the district with a 14-1 record.”
Congratulations to the entire Midway Middle basketball program and we look forward to many more years of great Greenwave basketball.
See game photos here.