Are you serious? Damron Leads Maryville to Victory

This is one they will talk about for a long time.

The folks in Maryville will have stories that embellish the scoring and inflate the attendance as the years go by when they talk about this epic encounter.

As we speak legislation should be underway to rename the court at Maryville High School, Jordan Damron Memorial Hall.

Not since the days of Lee Humphrey have we seen such a display of outside prowess as was brought to us by the Maryville senior.

Jordan Damron scored 32 of his game high 35 points in the second half helping lead his Rebels to a 73-71 overtime thriller against district rival Bearden.

Damron hit eight threes including some huge bombs in the overtime as the Bulldogs kept clawing their way back and had two chances to send the game into another extra period but could'nt find the mark as the buzzer sounded.

Damron, who netted 42 in their first meeting, was held to three points in the first half but the Rebels took the halftime lead behind some nifty shooting from junior Ryan Click. He of the state championship game winner dropped four threes of his own and finished the game with 16.

Demonte Simpson (Bearden) was the real deal in the second half grabbing timely offensive boards including a tough tip-in at the end of the third quarter to put the game at 50-49 Maryville.

Damron started the fourth stanza with five quick points before back to back short jumpers from junior wing Dustin Craig (Bearden) had the Bulldogs tied at 59 all.

Damron got loose on a tough lay-up before Blake Jenkins (Bearden) banked one from close in and knotted the score again.

Aaron Douglas (Maryville) played high low with junior Jay Reynolds (Maryville) and gave the Rebs the lead before the Stat-Man Nathan Parker (Bearden) did his thing and grabbed an errant shot and softly layed it home to tie things up at 63 with only .18 seconds on the clock.

The overtime saw Damron hit three huge threes ,yet Simpson continued to score inside and the Rebs held a slight 72-71 lead with only .30 ticks on the clock. Damron missed the front end of the one and one and the Bulldogs had a chance to grab the lead.

The senior made up for his misgivings at the line and made a huge steal before knocking down one of his foul shots and preserving the win for the Rebels.

Simpson was spectacular on this day playing hard and smart finishing with 25 points. Jenkins added 16 for the Bulldogs.

Don't expect this to be the last time these two battle things out. With district action only a month or so away, rest assured the Bulldogs and Rebels will have another day.....won't that be something.