Gore Serves As Tone-Setter For Bee Defense

The Upperman Bees are one of the hottest teams in the Upper Cumberland, as they are currently riding a 12-game winning streak.

In that streak, they’ve won by an average margin of 31 points a game, and they’ve held every team they’ve played against to less than 50 points.

The crazy part of these numbers is that Head Coach Bobby McWilliams wasn’t aware of just how good his team has been in this streak, and it goes to show how focused they are on each game on the schedule.

“We didn’t realize that was the margin. I didn’t, and I’m sure the kids didn’t either,” McWilliams said. “We are just taking it one game at a time, one quarter at a time, and one possession at a time…our depth is what’s enabled this to happen. Maybe with three or four minutes, we sub and the other team subs and our bench is able to out-score their’s.”

What’s the key? For McWilliams, it’s having a tone-setter on defense like junior Collin Gore.

“If you’re behind him on defense and watching the effort he’s giving, it’s kind of hard to not play hard,” McWilliams said. “That kind of grows within the team. His intensity is as good as anyone in the state.”

This was on full display in their 80-48 win at DeKalb County on Feb. 7, when he put up 20 points on offense, but literally stole the show on the other end of the floor with six steals. If you ask McWilliams who he’s taking if he needs someone with great intensity on defense, he’s willing to take Gore over anybody else.

“He could match up with anybody,” McWilliams said. “That feeds on to the rest of these kids, and it does set a tone for us. The rest of it has to be carried by the rest of our lineup, and it has been.”

The Bees will be back on the court on Tuesday, when they host Cannon County in Baxter.