English
EspañolNASHVILLE — When Cade Murphy was sure he and his Knoxville Catholic teammates would finally escape with a victory, he ran to midcourt and smacked each of their hands as hard as he could.
“Let’s go!” the Irish senior guard screamed.
Murphy scored a team-high 21 points in Catholic’s 64-55 win at Lipscomb Academy in the TSSAA basketball playoffs Division II-AA boys quarterfinals, overcoming a flurry from Lipscomb guard Cam Blivens, who put up 31 points.
Catholic (24-5) advances to the DII-AA final four for the first time since 2022 and will meet Briarcrest (20-2) at 5 p.m. CT on March 5 in Clarksville.
“The emotions were crazy. I’ve been at this school for four years, I’ve had four different coaches, and this is now the first time I’ve made it to the (final four),” Murphy said. “Being on this wild ride with this program, this team . . . I love every single one of them.”
The game featured a marquee matchup of Murphy, one of three DII-AA Mr. Basketball finalists, sharing the floor with Blivens, a 2025 finalist who was not voted in this time.
Blivens brought the Mustangs back from 11 down in the fourth quarter. Playing with four fouls, he scored 10 of Lipscomb’s final 15 points and tied the score at 48 with 3:45 left on a thunderous one-handed dunk down the middle of the lane.
“The crowd was super loud. We just stuck together,” Murphy said. “Cam’s a great player for sure. I have nothing but respect for him. Preparation for him is definitely tough, just trying to figure out his strengths and weaknesses. We didn’t do so great because he obviously lit us up.”
Murphy, an Eastern Kentucky signee, did his part, too. He scored 13 points in the first half and keyed Catholic's double-digit lead in the third quarter. He gave the Irish their largest lead of the game at that point, 39-30, with 3:05 in the third with a basket and then a full-court length assist the other way.
Blivens, a Clemson football signee, received a standing ovation from the Lipscomb crowd when he went to the bench in the final seconds. He didn’t go into the game trying to prove Mr. Basketball voters wrong, he said.
“It was in the back of my mind but I didn't come out here with anything to prove. I just wanted to get a win. We fell short of that though, so I feel like that’s on me,” Blivens said. “It was sad. Thinking of all the time I put into basketball and realizing this is it forever . . . It was definitely bittersweet. I wish it would have lasted longer, but I still enjoyed every second with the guys. This was my dream senior season. It just had to end early.”
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean's high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TSSAA basketball playoffs final four berth sweet for Knox Catholic