Inside Christian Brothers’ 1st title since ’87
COOKEVILLE — Chandler Jackson was calling for the ball.
There was just more than five seconds remaining on the clock when Jackson finally got it and started to race down the court. As the final buzzer went off, Jackson was screaming and jumping up and down.
In his final high school game, the four-star Florida State signee finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and the ball in his hands one last time. More than that though, the 6-foot-4 Jackson was finally a state champion as Christian Brothersbeat Knoxville Catholic 79-72 to win the Division II-AA state title for the team's first championship since 1987.
“I took off and it didn't even really hit me until the buzzer went off,” Jackson said. “I was just thinking, ‘There's no way we just did this'. 28-0, won state, that's unheard of.
“Few teams do that so it's crazy. We're legendary today.”
Jackson knew that finishing undefeated wasn't going to be easy.
After narrowly beating Lipscomb Academy in the semifinals, the Purple Wave (28-0) squared off against a Knoxville Catholic (28-4) team that had beaten undefeated Brentwood Academy in the semifinals.
Led by four-star Tennessee signee BJ Edwards and one the state's top juniors in Blue Cain, Jackson knew Christian Brothers would have its hands full.
Christian Brothers came out as the aggressors. While Cain finished with a game-high 31 points and Edwards scored 21, the Irish had one other player finish in double figures.
The Purple Wave finished with four players in double figures, led by 20 from Jackson and Michael Pepper. Christian Brothers connected on 66% of its shots and scored a season high in points.
Jackson scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, including a pair of clutch free throws in the closing seconds to put the game out of reach.
“Chandler's honestly been a really special player since he was in the fifth grade,” Christian Brothers coach Bubba Luckett said. “Our freshman coach coached him then and told me that he had the best fifth grader he had ever seen in his life. One of the things we forced him to do was shooting more because he was always a distributor more and would take the game over if we were behind.
“Late in the game, we were getting in a 1-4 set and telling them to beat us. We're going to get him the ball and if someone's man leaves them, he's going to find you or he'll just come inside the free-throw line and score, which is what he did.”
The state title is the first for Luckett, who played at Christian Brothers from 1975-79 before playing at Memphis State. He's been the Christian Brothers coach the past 32 years. Jackson passed Luckett as the school's all-time scorer on Thursday in the Purple Wave's alltime scoring list.
Making it to the final four and even the championship isn't something new to Christian Brothers.
The Purple Wave has been state runners-up four times since the 1987 championship and made it to the semifinals the past two seasons, coming up short to Knoxville Catholic and Brentwood Academy.
A smile never left Jackson's face when it dawned on him the Purple Wave was finally on top again for the first time in 35 years.
“This is just very special,” Jackson said. “I couldn't do this without God, my friends, family, my teammates and coach. They push me every day and believed in all of us.
“We're on top right now and I honestly just can't stop smiling. I dreamed about this freshman year and we finally did it.”