Terrico White

Playing without the state's best player did'nt hinder M33M from grabbing the second annual Battle at the Bluff crown.

We have good news and bad news for you.

Bad news the top player in the state Elliot Williams (St. George) was not  in action this weekend.

The good news, his teammates stepped up and captured the gold ball winning the 2nd annual Battle at the Bluff against a good Queen City Prophets squad out of Cincinnati.

Sharing top honors for the M33M were Sampson Carter (Ridgeway) and Terrico White (Craigmont) will split the MVP trophy for their high level efforts.

White dropped 21 in the title game and Carter managed 16. The addition of White, Jarvis Jones (Mitchell) and Valpo commitment Erik Buggs (White Station) after the apparent discontinuation of Team Chaos was a big boost to the squad and providing plenty of quality players coming off the bench.

Also finishing in the final four were the resurgent Nashville Celtics. The Celts pushed through pool play unblemished and kept on the winning pace until a last second half-court prayer was answered against Quenn City in the semi-final game. Ricky Taylor (Haywood County) another casualty from the Team Chaos disolving, was huge playing his best ball of the summer. The Celtcs had a steady effort thanks largely in part to the inspired play of Ricky Williams (Liberty Tech).

Williams was dynamic in running the show, scoring when called upon and overall leading his team from the all important point position. His stock has increase dramatically this summer. Other Celtics deserve mention including Charles Holt (Liberty Tech), who was strong from the perimeter, Jon Hood (Kentucky), who is a fantastic player that can score in a variety of ways, and rising sophomore phenom Casey Prather (Jackson Northside), who was the leading scorer in majority of the early games.

Other fine perfromances by some of the Tennessee prepsters include:

Phillip Jurick (East Ridge)

The Tennessee signee had a big tourney helping his Tennessee Mavericks makle some much needed noise.

Tre Payne (Memphis Central)

Roy McFagdon (Manassas)

Adrew Jeffries (Manassas)

Martino Brock (Ridgeway)

Arnette Moultrie (Trezevant)

Darrell Neal (Mitchell)