Catholic falls in four overtimes
Knoxville Catholic High School’s boys basketball team saw its season come to an end in Division II-AA State Tournament semifinals Thursday, March 6.
The Irish battled valiantly but came up on the losing end of a 75-72 four-overtime thriller against Briarcrest Christian School, which was eventually crowned 2025-26 state champion on Saturday at F&M Bank Arena on the campus of Austin Peay State University.
KCHS, which finished with a 24-7 record this season, defeated Briarcrest to win the 2019-20 state title before everything was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a physical contest Thursday, Catholic had four starters foul out, leaving Cade Murphy as the Irish’s lone starter on the floor by the end of the marathon game, which ended up being the longest contest ever played in TSSAA Division II State Tournament history.
The Saints, which won their 31st game in the state title game against Pope John Paul II Saturday, March 7, withstood every punch that KCHS threw in this epic battle that went back-and-forth throughout.
But Catholic’s reserves, out of necessity, made some crucial plays as starters, Malachi Brown, Warren Brown, Travis Martin and Landon Lee, all had to leave the contest after picking up a fifth foul.
“The kids who came in made some big plays,” Irish coach Travis Mains said.
Mains, who just completed his first season as the Catholic boys coach after leading the Lady Irish to back-to-back state titles in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and he was one of several new faces in KCHS’s boys program. And the Irish developed on the hardwood and gave the new head coach their best effort throughout much of the season.
“We had five new players and four new coaches come in and we grew together,” Mains said. “We grew together as a family.
“As you watched the kids play, they gave it everything they had. That’s pretty much from the first practice to the last horn.”
Cade Murphy, the Irish’s lone starter to finish the game had 23 points. He also pulled down eight rebounds and dished out six assists. Martin added 18 points. Brown had 10 and Jovis Erwan finished with eight points.
