How a Mr. Football winner helped Fulton boys basketball win TSSAA state semifinals by 40 points
MURFREESBORO – The adhesive tape on Fulton senior Marcellus Jackson’s chin during the TSSAA boys basketball state semifinals game against Martin Luther King embodies his insistence to be great in whatever athletic venue he is on.
Jackson, who also plays football and baseball, took a charge in the second quarter against MLK but was sustained a gash on his chin. Bleeding and in pain, he was substituted and later returned with even more charisma than before.
His performance helped Fulton clobber MLK 72-32 in the Class 3A semifinals of the TSSAA BlueCross Boys Basketball State Championships at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center.
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The Falcons (30-6) scored 20 unanswered points in the third quarter and allowed only 10 points in the second half. They will play Haywood (30-5), a 57-51 winner over Ridgeway, in the championship game on Saturday at noon ET.
Junior Denaj Kimber scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half for Fulton. He also had five rebounds, three steals and made all 11 of his free throws. Jackson had 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals and junior Tyler Lee had 15 points. Sophomore MJ Floyd led MLK (21-8) with 12 points.
Fulton will play in the state title game for the first time since 2019. The last time the Falcons won a state championship was in 2016.
Jackson’s two charges and multiple rebounds and steals were as valuable as his scoring. That kind of physical sacrifice is what he believes makes him valuable as a 5-foot-9, 167-pound athlete. It also is what motivates him in moments like these.
“Just knowing that nobody, nobody believes in me, that’s it all it was,” Jackson said. "I always had to believe in myself … you got to believe that its either him or me and that’s how it always been, its always been me."
Fulton coach Jody Wright is more aware of Jackson’s importance to the team than anyone. He doesn’t view him as simply the fourth or fifth option on offense.
“I don’t know if Marcellus is a fourth, fifth guy,” Wright said. “I think Marcellus is as good as anybody.
“Marcellus brings a unique blend of toughness to us that we need. He is a ultra-competitive guy, which I love … (Marcellus) is a one, two guy.”
Jackson’s toughness as a smaller player is directly correlated to his football exploits — he was named Tennessee Titans Mr. Football for Class 4A after having over 1,000 passing and rushing yards and 41 combined passing and rushing touchdowns
“Football is a game of size and every game I step out in football, I’m the smallest on the field,” Jackson said. “Just knowing that, ‘Bro you small so you got to do 10 times more.’ That’s how I think, that’s my mindset.”
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: TSSAA basketball: Fulton boys drop MLK to advance to state championship
