T he 2025-26 season came to an end for Coffee County boys’ basketball Saturday night.

Traveling to Walker Valley for a Class 4A Region 3 tournament quarterfinal matchup, the Red Raiders kept it within reach through the first three quarters but fell behind in the fourth on the way to a 74-50 loss.

“Just a really good Walker Valley team. Well-coached, athletic, skilled. We knew if we had to speed up at some point, it probably wasn’t gonna be at our advantage. We were able to get it to 10 and then they went on one of their runs and that was pretty much that,” Coffee County coach Andrew Taylor said. “We lost to a quality opponent. They gave a good effort. Obviously everybody’s got things that they could’ve done differently, but Walker Valley’s a good squad and no shame losing to those guys.”

Trailing 17-10 after the first quarter, Coffee County continued to keep the Mustangs’ lead in the single digits through the first half’s remainder and went into halftime down 3325.

The Red Raiders fell a little further behind as the second half got under way but still were in a place to keep it manageable, finishing the third quarter trailing 46-34.

Walker Valley went on to turn up its offensive output in the fourth quarter, adding another 28 points in this span. Coffee County was held to 16 points through the game’s remainder as the District 5 champion Mustangs closed it out to advance to the region semifinals.

MJ Rollman and Audie Nicoll led the Red Raider offensive effort with 14 points each.

Kaysen Lowery followed with 10 points. Jerrad Morgan and Brady Christian both knocked down a single 3-pointer to finish with three points each. Brody Sizemore, Gabe Hambly and Luke Campbell all had two points each.

The loss ended Coffee County’s season with a 15-15 record, with a 4-6 record in Class 4A District 6 play when including the district tournament.

The Red Raiders’ regular season included a five-game winning streak that included four straight district victories after starting district competition with an 0-3 record. The late turnaround put Coffee County in contention for the No. 1 seed in the district tournament, but a streak-snapping 45-43 home loss to Shelbyville in the regular-season finale locked the Red Raiders in as the No. 2 seed.

“We struggled early. We were young, two seniors. They were an all-new starting lineup, all-new supporting cast,” Taylor said of the growth Coffee County showed over the course of the season. “We were picked fifth in our district media day. We played the last day of the regular season championship, come up three seconds short, so where these kids started and where they ended is phenomenal, so we’re just extremely proud of them.”