JEFF JORDAN, Special to the Post
Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010 9:26 am

The Siegel Stars fell to Memphis Melrose in the first round of the TSSAA State Basketball Tournament on Thursday.

Siegel boy’s basketball Coach Ben Dotson has spent the majority of the year playing hide-n-go-seek with the boogieman and his bag of injuries, bad luck and losses.

Thursday afternoon, in the Boy’s State Basketball Tournament at Murphy Center, the Stars (24-9) could dodge him no longer.

Powerful Memphis Melrose (35-4), probably the most talented team in the tournament, beat our Stars 78-55.

A solid and often spectacular Siegel year ended in a sea of turnovers, 18 of them in fact, (with 12 in the first half), missed free throws, an offense that struggled to get good shots against the taller quicker Golden Wildcats, many Melrose fast break baskets and free throws (25-36 for the game).

It was just not Siegel’s day as the Stars were held to one point in the first 8 minutes and trailed at the quarter break 19-1.

Siegel got their first basket, a Kerry Hammonds 3 pointer, early in the 2nd quarter. Hammond finished with 15 points but played only 7 minutes in the first half and shot five of 16 from the floor for the game.

To be fair, the Stars were forced to take many questionable shots in the second half just trying to get back in the game. Most of those shots didn’t fall as Siegel shot 31 percent for the game. Coach Dotson, in a show of class, let everyone play toward the end.

Highly touted Melrose used their quickness, pressure defense and 46 percent shooting, to craft a 37-16 first half lead, which they never relinquished.

Siegel Nation kept waiting for the Stars to mount a serious comeback but it never happened.

To be fair, Melrose has the credentials to win like this. The Wildcats score more than 80 about half the time and have been more than 100 twice. They are now 15-0 on neutral floors this year and lost only once away from home.

They have been to the State eight times and in the finals four times with three State titles. This Melrose squad may well make it four Gold Balls and will be favored to beat their second round opponent, Bearden High, who beat Beech 68-52 in a first round game.

In the scoring/rebounding department Hammonds had 15 points with six boards, March Gooch had 8 points and eight boards and a sensational block, Cedrick Williams finished with 8 points and six rebounds, while T.J Mitchell had 8 points and five boards, Oscar Butler had 6 points and four boards and DeVante Ellis had 6 points and three rebounds. To wind up the scoring, Treyton Harris and Stephen Hurt had 2 points each.

UT signee, Chris Jones was terrific for Melrose as he dropped in 33 points.

The Stars have every reason to feel good about their year. They finished 24-9 and are Region and Sectional Champs.

If you finish with a loss, and just about everyone does, you want it to be in the State Tournament.