Stoked About Stokes: Freshman scored 9

by Griffin H.

Jarnell Stokes

“The game just changed. The game just changed.” This is what the commentators said after seeing Tennessee freshman Jarnell Stokes entered  the game Saturday against Kentucky. His first play as a Vol was a nice soft hook shot that swished. He then pulled up at the elbow of the lane (right) and swished again. Stokes, who hails from Memphis, played 17 minutes, scored 9 points, and was 4-of-5 shooting.

Unfortunately the freshman’s effort was not enough to lift the Vols over Kentucky. The final score was 65-62 in front of a packed house in Thompson-Bowling Arena. After leading by 6 and 8 for most of the game, they hit a drought late in the second half. The Vols didn’t score for 6 minutes and Kentucky put a run together taking the lead. Skylar McBee hit a 3 with 37 seconds to cut the lead to five, and Cameron Tatum hit another three to cut the lead to 2 with 19.7 seconds left. Kentucky hit their free-throws and won by 3, 65-62.

Stokes finished with four rebounds, including a man’s rebound ripping the ball away from Terrance Jones. Tatum led the scoring for the Vols with 16. Jeronne Maymon added 15, and Hall had 8.

This isn’t a game we can hang our heads about. After upsetting Florida, and being on the brink of doing so to Mississippi State and Kentucky we have come quite a long way from November, and December. We played ourselves a great game.

Next the Vols play Georgia in Athens, and I think we should be able to beat them. I will leave with this quote: “He [Jarnell Stokes] played a helluva game.” -Cameron Tatum.

Griffin can be reached at teens4tn@gmail.com, or leave a comment. Enjoying teens4tn.com? Subscribe in the sidebar. ->