Memphis Central, Friendship in finals

Friday, January 1, 1904

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Two of the three teams that beat Chattanooga-area schools in the TSSAA boys' basketball state quarterfinals are playing today for championships.

Memphis Central followed up its Class AAA win over Ooltewah by defeating Clarksville 68-62 behind 29 points, 10 rebounds and six steals from Andre Applewhite II, and Friendship Christian in Class A edged McEwen 54-51 in the final game of the night Friday at Middle Tennessee State University. The Commanders beat Grace Academy the night before.

Mark Sandoval had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Friendship (27-3), which plays at 7 EDT tonight against Perry County (30-4), a 61-51 winner over Lake County (24-10).

Memphis Central (20-9) is scheduled to take the court at 5 p.m. against Memphis East (22-9), which won 81-71 over Science Hill (35-3) from Johnson City. Nick King had 31 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field and 10 rebounds for East, countering 25 and 22 points from the Hilltoppers' C.J. Good and Zach Howard.

Liberty Tech, which defeated Howard in the Class AA quarterfinals, fell 42-39 on Friday to Mitchell (23-9), which got 17 points from Aquarious Stevenson. Tavarius Gause scored 16 for Liberty (29-7).

The other AA finalist at 3 p.m. EDT is Christ Presbyterian Academy (36-2), which beat Crossville's Stone Memorial 72-54 on Friday. Brandon Cole had 27 points and 10 rebounds in defeat for Stone Memorial (26-11), and Dustin Dishman had 11 rebounds.