Demetrius KitchensHigh-scoring Brainerd High School wing Demetrius Kitchens has signed to continue his basketball career with Chattanooga State, while guard Jabari Evans will move on to Charis Prep School in Wilson, N.C. Kitchens led the Panthers with 18.6 points a game and also averaged 7.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 4.1 steals this past season. Evans averaged 15.4 points, 5.5 steals and 4.6 assists and was an 81-percent free-throw shooter. "Both of these kids will really take off at the next level, I think," Brainerd coach Robert High said. "They can both handle themselves on the court, and I hate to see both of them leaving our program. I would highly recommend both of them to a four-year school once they're ready for that level." The 6-foot Kitchens was a Best of Preps third-team choice for the entire area this past season, and Chatt State coach Jay Price was delighted finally to get a recruit from his high school alma mater. "He's an athletic kid, big and strong," Price said. "I've liked him from the first time I saw him. I just didn't know if he was one of those kids who wanted to go out of town to play. I like his athletic ability and I like the way he shoots the ball." Kitchens said he also talked to Cleveland State and Walters State but liked staying home and playing for Price. "He's a very good coach. That was the main reason," Kitchens said.
• Bradley Central's Hunter Chastain recently signed scholarship papers to continue his basketball career at Bryan College in Dayton. Chastain, a third-team Best of Preps selection, averaged 15 points and six rebounds a game for the Bears, who won 28 games and advanced to the Class AAA sectional. He's a 6-foot-3 forward. "He's the most improved player I've had in my 16 years at Bradley," Bears coach Kent Smith said. "He was clumsy as a freshman -- not coordinated -- but he's worked on his strength in the weight room, as well as his skill. He refined some post moves, and he has the ability to step out and face the bucket and knock down the midrange shot. [Bryan] Coach [Don] Rekoske loved how Hunter played. He went and played with some of their guys and showed a lot of aggressiveness and no intimidation. They'll lose a lot after next season, but Hunter should challenge to get into the top 10 and by his sophomore year be a major factor in their rotation."
Baseball/Softball
• KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- Tennessee Wesleyan edged Union College 5-3 in 10 innings for the Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship Friday. That was the fifth time those two schools met for the title in the last seven years and the sixth AAC tourney title in a row for the Athens school. Wesleyan, 45-11 and ranked seventh in the NAIA, had beat Reinhardt 15-2 Thursday night, overcoming a first-inning 2-0 deficit as Anthony Boix batted in three runs and Jordan Guida went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Boix was the hero Friday with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th. TWC led 2-0 after four innings but fell behind in the seventh and then tied the score on a strikeout wild pitch in the eighth.
• Senior Lance Rorex from Lookout Valley was presented the Frosty Holt Most Dedicated Award for baseball at Carson-Newman's all-sports banquet earlier this week, and fellow Cleveland State transfer Troy Zawadzki got the team's Gold Glove Award. He played shortstop. Catcher Bri Shoemake from Ooltewah was the softball team's Best Offense honoree.
Soccer
• CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- After already signing McCallie star Arturo Rocha, Lee University men's soccer coach Paul Furey announced nine other signees this week, including Joshua Womack from Chattanooga Christian and Furey's son Justin, a midfielder transferring from Palm Beach Atlantic University as a sophomore. The Flames' other recruits include 6-foot-2 goalkeeper Tom Halsall and "rugged" central defender Stephen Lyons from Manchester, England; defender Jonathan Finlay from Liverpool; Tedroy Jackson from Kingston, Jamaica; Travis Kiger from Mount Vernon, Ohio; 6-3 center back Wes Smith from Arizona, and North Carolina all-state keeper Chase Keeney from state champion Wesleyan Christian Academy. Kiger is an outside attacker who helped win an Ohio club state title, and the speedy Jackson has experience as an attacking winger and an outside back. "I really like the makeup of this recruiting class," said Coach Furey, who took the Lee job after last year's recruiting season. "Some of these will help us right away, but they each bring a good work ethic and proper mindset to be successful. They are good students with an average ACT of 24." He described Womack as "a tenacious defender and outside flank" with state-championship experience.