MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Howard High boy’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Class AA 2013 Boys Basketball State Championship with Thursday’s 59-43 opening-round win over East Nashville at the Murphy Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
Howard center Brandon Walters led all scores with 19 points and brought down a game-high 14 rebounds in the lopsided win, guard Cudjoe Young added 16 points, and forward Xavier Harris contributed seven points and 12 rebounds.
The Hustlin’ Tigers advance to face the winner of Fulton and Jackson South Side in a semifinal matchup Friday (7:45 p.m. ET, streaming video).
Howard (28-5), which traded leads with the Eagles in the opening quarter, claimed a 9-8 advantage on Walters’ jumper with 1:36 remaining, and the Tigers’ first-half lead swelled to as much as 28-15 following Young’s layup with 1:46 left until the break.
East Nashville battled back in the third, though, tying things up at 29-29 on Terry Holt’s layup around the five-minute mark before eventually edging out in front 32-31 on Holt’s 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining in the period.
Howard reclaimed the lead just over a minute later on Rashad Brummitt’s layup, and the Tigers never trailed again. They held a 42-37 advantage entering the four quarter, and outscored the Eagles 17-6 in the final eight minutes of action.
Holt finished with a team-high 15 points for the Eagles (27-8), while Bobby Scott contributed 12 points and nine boards in the losing effort.