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UCMS boys fall just short in championship game heartbreaker
Tornadoes still own regular season title in sparkling 19-win season (posted Jan. 21, 2025)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNION CITY SCHOOLS
CONTACT: Mike
Hutchens
Communications
Director
The Union City Middle School boys’ basketball team was
forced to settle for a runner-up finish in the West Tennessee Middle School
Athletic Association Tournament following a heartbreaking 36-33 overtime loss
to Milan in the conference championship game on Monday night.
Still, the Tornadoes finished their 2024-25 season with a
spectacular 19-2 record and the regular season league title.
UC – which had beaten the second-seeded Bulldogs two times
in the regular season – led Monday’s defensive slugfest by seven in the fourth
quarter with a minute to play. But Milan’s Leiland Neely made a pair of
3-pointers to fuel a rally by the host team.
It was 29-all at the end of regulation.
The Twisters were up again in OT before Caden Arrington sank
his only bucket of the contest – a 3-pointer – to give Milan a lead it would
not relinquish.
Ayden Lewis, who led Union City with 16 points, had all eight
of his team’s markers in the third period. The Tornadoes led 13-10 at halftime.
Kaden Robinson finished with seven points for UC.
“I’m proud of the kids. They played against schools with
bigger enrollments than ours in this conference and had great success
throughout the entire season,” said Union City head coach Bill Kail, who was
named the league’s Coach of the Year. “Personally, I’d trade any award to have
seen them win a championship. This was one of the better groups I’ve ever had.
“I hate it for them that it happened the way it did. We had
a chance to finish how we wanted to, which made it sting even more. Still, they
worked hard, and I saw so much individual growth from last summer to this final
game. The future of Union City High School basketball is bright if they
continue to put in that type of work.”
Lewis, Braydon Marshall, Preston Creswell, and Zaven
Thompson were named to the all-conference team for the Tornadoes in post-game
ceremonies.
Posted on January 21, 2025