Emmanuel Andrews

The summers final event comes to a close at the Junior Olympics.

The 15 and under Tennessee Travelers played hard but in the end came up short falling in the title game of the Junior Olympics in Knoxville 63-50 to the Maryland Crusader Nation.

The Travelers advanced to the title game with a solid 79-61 semi-final victory over the Tennessee Thunder. Emmanuel Andrews (Shelbyville) was on fire the entire contest finishing with 26 points. Devin Jackson (Knoxville West) and Jalen Steele (Fulton) helped in the scoring column with 11 and 10 respectively.

The Thunder were led by Tyler Hood (Lenoir City) with 21. Hood had a fantastic week averaging almost 25 points per game in his seven contests and for his efforts was awarded the Joe Ferrell Award. This award symbolizes the MVP in the Boy's Basketball portion of the Junior Olympics. The 6-5 lefty had three games over 30 and consistently knocked down the foul line jumpers and took it hard to the bucket as well. Coti Clarke (Antioch) chipped in with 18 in the loss.

In the title game the Travs fell behind on some blistering shooting by the Crusaders. Steele then went on a personal crusade of his own scoring 11 straight markers and closing the gap before another Maryland flourish closed the third quarter gap at 47-41. Steele finished as the high scorer with 23.