Webb rolls past Catholic, caps 30-win season
Webb School of Knoxville’s boys basketball team has won 30 games in 2025. The Spartans cruised through a perfect run during their Division II-AA East Region regular-season schedule.
Webb also won the region tournament Friday night as it ran past Cedar Bluff Area rival Knoxville Catholic with an 87-52 victory before a near-capacity crowd at the Lee Athletic Center.
Still, head coach Ricky Norris said his team still is looking to make improvements. And the Spartans will spend much of this week looking to get better before they face either Memphis University School or Montgomery Bell Academy Saturday.
“You worry about a little rust because you don’t play for a week,” Norris said. “But this team has kind of a walk-on mentality. By that, I mean we’ll celebrate this weekend and on Monday this group will come back and I won’t have to get them ready to practice.
“We’ll have a great practice on Monday. We’ll have the best practice we’ve had all year, and that’s just their mentality.”
Friday night’s game marked the Spartans’ third win of the season over the Irish, and in both games at home, Webb had to overcome an early deficit twice.
Catholic (22-6) opened an early 10-2 advantage in the contest and led, 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.
But the Spartans (30-2) stormed back and outscored Catholic, 22-11, in the second stanza and took a 34-27 lead by halftime.
“We had a 10-2 lead to start the game but we went away from our game plan,” Irish coach Mains said. “We came in and we wanted to get the thing inside, but we went away from that and we started settling.
“Webb is a tough team and we’re tough, too; but tonight, they were tougher than us and that showed its head.”
From there, things would only get worse for Catholic as the Spartans scored 34 points in the third frame, matching the offensive input over the first 16 minutes. The Irish, conversely, scored just 25 points after halftime.
Webb boasted a potent and balanced offensive attack, led by Alabama-Huntsville signee Owen Lentz and his 27 points. Lentz buried five long-range jumpers from beyond the 3-point arc. He was one of
five Webb players to post double figures in the scoring column.
Houston Torres scored 19 points off the bench, while Cam Swearengin added 13. Brayden Hazelbaker had 12 and Alex Leeth finished with 11.
Norris lauded his team for its performance.
“I think tonight shows you how we can play,” Norris said.
The coach noted that Lentz plays his best in the biggest moments of the game and season.
“He’s just an incredible shooter,” Norris said. “You can be a good shooter, but to make shots in big games, I think is different. Owen has that game.
“The moment is never too big for him and I can’t have any more trust in a player shooting the ball than Owen Lentz.”
Travis Martin led KCHS with 15 points. Jovis Erwan and Malachi Brown scored 13 points each, while Cade Murphy finished with eight.
The Irish will host a first-round state tournament game today (Wednesday) against Christian Brothers.
