It’s been a couple of weeks since the Munford High School basketball team made history by competing in the Class 3A state tournament in Murfreesboro.
It had been 39 years since any Tipton County boys’ basketball team had qualified for the state tournament and 95 years since Munford made it to state.
The Cougars fell to Greeneville 63-46 on March 20 in the state quarterfinals, but there’s no doubt the season was a rousing success.
Kam Foster, who is in his second season as Munford’s head coach, has had some time to reflect on the team’s accomplishment and he knows it was something special.
“I look at everything as a blessing,” Foster said. “Getting the job, making state in my second year, a lot of coaches can’t say they did that in their whole career.”
Munford came within a win of making state last season and lost some significant talent from that squad, namely Murray Norman. The Cougars went through a seven-game losing streak this season and nobody outside of the Munford program thought a state tournament berth was in the cards.
It was a team effort, for sure, but anybody who watched Munford play this past season knows senor JaDyn Lee was the primary reason for the Cougars’ success. He averaged 25 points per game and scored 30 vs. Greeneville.
Lee is a natural combo guard, but because of injuries, he played power forward much of the season and got the Cougars on track after the midseason losing streak.
“He did what we needed to win,” Foster said. “He became a leader.”
Munford was in position to beat Greeneville, trailing by just five through three quarters and by one early in the fourth after six points from Lee, but an 18-2 Greeneville run ended the game. A couple of stat lines were the difference: Munford was just 3 of 12 from the free throw line and Greeneville made 11 of 21 3-pointers compared to Munford’s 3-of-11 3-point shooting.
Nevertheless, Foster understands what his team accomplished.
“God put me in this position for a reason for what I could do for these kids … Next year the goal is the same: Make it state and win it. It’s all on us.”
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