By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Winning championships never gets old.
Fans of the Union City boys’ basketball program can attest to that.
The tradition-rich Tornadoes provided another fond memory for their followers by claiming the 43rd district tournament title in the illustrious history of the program with a convincing 61-37 thrashing of Gleason in Wednesday night’s 14A final at Bethel University.
The district championship was the sixth in the last eight years for the Purple and Gold, which dispatched Gleason in the title round for the second time in as many seasons and capped a run of 24 straight 14A victories the past two years.
UC (17-12) will now host the fourth-place finisher from District 13 – either Halls or Bradford – in the first round of regional play on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Regular season and tournament Most Valuable Player Ben Kail got top-seeded UC off to a blazing start with 14 first-quarter points Wednesday, and the Twisters were never truly threatened by Gleason after storming to a 22-7 lead at the end of the opening frame.
“Of all the ones we’ve coached, this may be the most rewarding district championship for me, personally,” said Union City skipper Shane Sisco, who has piloted the Tornadoes to 12 district titles in 26 years and was named Coach of the Year in postgame ceremonies. “The reason I say that is because of the number and caliber of kids we lost from last year’s team. I’m not sure what others’ expectations were of us coming into the season.
“We had one player, Ben Kail, with significant postseason experience coming back. Finn Frankum was the second-most seasoned guy we had. But even when we were 3-10 at one point before Christmas, our kids kept making improvements and showed up to work every day wanting to get better. That’s a great tribute when you consider how easy it is to quit nowadays when things get difficult.
“The expectations of Union City boys’ basketball will always be to win championships at this time of the year – whether it is district championships, region championships, or state championships. That was the case long before I got here, and it’ll continue after I’m gone, I believe. I’m happy we were able to add to the program’s legacy despite the many challenges of the journey this season.”
Kail, who finished with a game-high 21 points, made two of his three 3-pointers and converted on several slashes to the basket in a dominant opening frame. Frankum, a member of the league’s all-defensive team, drew three charges during that span, and Hollister Johnson provided an inside presence with six of his 16 markers.
Kenny Moss gave the Tornadoes a nice lift off the bench in the middle two frames when they maintained control of the contest before Johnson finished off the No. 2-seeded Bulldogs (18-11) with eight fourth-quarter points.
“Ben Kail’s offense and the charges drawn by Finn Frankum,” Sisco responded when evaluating the key to his team’s impressive start. “And, of course, our defense was a big factor. We had one day to prepare, and the guys executed the changes we made defensively from the other two times we played them.
“Ben made shots early, and I thought that helped our other guys to relax. Defensively, whether it was Kenny (Moss) Tayshun (Gentry), D.J. Evans, Hollister (Johnson) or Ben (Kail), we never lost (Drake) Lehnkuhl or where he was. Our thoughts were to make guys other than him make shots if they were going to have a chance.”
Lehnkuhl, who had big scoring outputs for the Bulldogs in both regular season meetings against the Tornadoes, was limited to just two free throws on Wednesday.
Kail, who was also named to the All-Academic team, was joined on the all-district squad by teammates Johnson, Frankum, Jamarious Abbott, and Kwinton Purifoy. Frankum and Johnston earned spots on the all-tournament team along with Kail, while D.J. Evans made the All-Defensive team with Frankum.