The Boone Braves (16-11) played the underdog role perfectly against Oak Ridge High School last Wednesday.

“All the pressure was really on them,” Marlon Allen said of the match-up. “Coach told us that and we just wanted to play loose.”

“Really just wanted to see where we stood,” Head Coach David Martinson explained. “Saw what Oak Ridge had done to all the other conference teams, the points they put up. So the goal really was, let’s do better than everybody else did.”

See the other team was ranked No. 1 in the area and hadn’t lost to an in state opponent— well until the boys from Boone stole one from them.

“They beat us here last year so it’s always great, especially being the underdog,” Allen added.  

While three scored over 20 points for the Braves that night it was Junior Forward Marlon Allen who put together a career high 29 points and 10 rebounds— to help take down the Pioneers (24-4).

“I was shocked by the stat line because I was like, ‘I know I’m playing good’, but when coach told me I had 29 points and a double-double, that’s my career high,” Allen said.


“He was making everything from the beginning of the game,” senior guard Sean Halloran said. “He was making everything and I noticed that so me and Robert just planned to give him the ball every time.”

While that game doesn’t mean much in the long run — with playoffs on the horizon is does something for the team’s confidence.

“That can’t be the highlight of the season, that can’t be the mountain top for us we have to build on top of that we have to play like that every single game, night in and night out and if we can do that, the sky is the limit for us because we have proven we can play with the best team in the state.”

Boone won its district semifinal game against Colonial, 37-35, Wednesday night to advance to the 9A-4 final.