By Thomas Sellers Jr.
By the end of Monday night, the legend of Munford senior JaDyn Lee grew about 10-fold.
Meanwhile, his classmate Eli Patrick walked off the Munford Gymnasium court validated for his Cougar basketball career. The comeback story of senior center Courtnry ‘Big Red’ Chaffin had the perfect ending with Munford’s 65-63 victory over the Dyersburg Trojans in the Class 3A sectional.
Years from now those in the packed gym will still be talking about the big shots from Brady Millican in the fourth quarter and how Dean “Dino” Millican nailed timely buckets early in the contest.
With the win, Munford became the first boys’ Tipton County basketball team to make it to state in 38 years. The only other two state appearances for Tipton County boys came in 1987 (Covington) and 1930 (Munford).
Munford reaching the Class 3A State Basketball next week in Murfreesboro was authored by Head Coach Kameron Foster.
“It ain’t nothing but God and those dawgs I got in there,” Coach Foster declared after cutting down the nets with his team. “I believed in them.”
“Those boys played and they knew we had to play for 32 minutes,” he continued. “They did what they had to do. When I told you we had ball-players just look at Dino. Dino stepped up last year a little bit and looked at the big shots he made for us this year. Look at Josiah, he’s only a 10th grader. He stepped up.”
The future of Munford Basketball Josiah Hawkins ran the offense and emerged as the point guard of the State bound Cougars. Hawkins and crew found their footing in the first period, falling behind 14-7 to Dyersburg.
Once Munford got into a groove, the Cougars outscored the Trojans 24-8 in the second quarter behind an NBA-range three-pointer from Lee. Then Lee dropped a jumper to make the score 14-12.
After Dyersburg increased its lead to 16-12, Dean Millican drained a triple to cut the deficit to a single point. Seconds later Millican hit a jumper to give Munford the advantage for good at 17-16.
Like he has done many times in a Munford uniform, Patrick kept the rally going with a timely three-pointer. Lee added another deep-range bomb to make the score 23-16.
To close out the first half, Hawkins did his best Steve Nash impersonation with a dribble move to free up space for a runner in the lane. Hawkins scored 5 points down the stretch to send Munford into the locker room ahead 31-22.
The third quarter Munford dominated in two phases with Chaffin controlling the boards with rebounds and altering Trojan shots in the paint.
The Cougars also put the ball into the hands of Lee and let him dictate the offensive pace. Lee got into the lane for and-one opportunities and located teammates with accurate passes for buckets.
Munford surged ahead 49-33 entering the fourth quarter. Just 8 minutes away from history, the Cougars had to withstand the Dyersburg run.
The Trojans chipped away and got the deficit into single digits. Just as Dyersburg had hope Munford got timely shots from Lee and a crucial three-point play from Brady Millican.
By the time Dyersburg scored the final bucket of the game, it was too late and the scoreboard read Munford 65, Dyersburg 63.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Lee said. “We’ve worked hard for this all year despite a bunch of doubters. It just kept us going. Nobody thought we could make it to Sub-State again — two years in a row. Or we could get our first State appearance since 1930, nobody believed in us. We did and that’s what carried us all the way.”
Lee racked up several honors this past season including District 15-3A and Region 8-3A MVP awards. While playing for everybody he shares a locker room with, his dad Kenny’s legacy, Lee said he had extra motivation this entire Cougar career.
“My siblings look at me as a role model,” he said. “I just feel like I am doing my job, especially to my little brother. He wants to play basketball, so I feel like I have to do a great job of teaching him how to do things, be a leader and things like that. I just want to be a role model for my little brother.”
The retired jersey of Adrian Nathaniel hangs over the court in Munford and stories about Keith Hardaway are still shared 30 years later. Now many say Lee is among them or has all surpassed Cougar legends.
“I’m just blessed and humbled to be among Munford greats,” Lee concluded.
Lee disappeared in a sea of people enjoying the history moment. At the center of it all was the architect.
“This ain’t just about the basketball team,” Foster concluded. “A lot of this comes with my family, a lot of my friends. I can’t lie, this is who all I do it for. I love basketball, I love making them and seeing them all happy. You see all the folks who stayed around. It’s family.”
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