By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          A year earlier, Jamal Taylor and teammates laughed and hugged and yelled and maybe hyperventilated a bit in this same spot, in the lower concourse at the bottom of the Macon Coliseum.

Boxscore/gamebook

Tradition-rich Hancock Central eyes a repeat with no nerves: "We've been there before"

          Then, they had survived Treutlen and won the GHSA Class A Public boys state championship 61-58 in overtime.

          Saturday, Taylor and Hancock Central were in the same locker room, but it wasn’t an omen.

          The Bulldogs’ impatience on the offensive end got them in a hole they never could quite get out of in losing 64-60 to Towns County for the Class A Public boys title at the Macon Coliseum before one of the best crowds of the week..

          “Costly mistakes and rebounding,” Hancock Central head coach Ricky Chatman said. “Every time we make a run, got (going), As soon as we make a run, we’d have a mistake that put us back.

          The Bulldogs actually held a 43-41 advantage on the glass, including an impressive 20 offensive rebounds.

          But the timing of the glass work was relevant, too, for Hancock Central scored only 12 second-chance points on 2o offensive boards to 18 for Towns County on 10. That was a main reason for a major disparity in field goal accuracy.

          Towns County, which was ironically 0 for 7 on 3-pointers, made 49.1 percent of its shots to 33.3 percent for Hancock Central, which slugged its way to a 9-for-40 afternoon on 3-pointers and 33.3 percent overall.

          “It felt like they were hitting tough shots, and we really couldn’t do anything about it,” Hancock Central standout Jamal Taylor said. “They were getting second-chance shots, and they were hitting them.

          “We got outplayed.”

          Neither team was dazzling from the line, 10 of 17 for Towns County and 3 for 8 for Hancock Central, which needed every point.

          A 24-all game with 1:45 left in the second quarter became a 31-24 Towns County halftime lead as Hancock Central missed all three shots, all 3-pointers, the rest of the way while Town County went 3 for 6. The Bulldogs were outrebounded 5-1 in that span.

          “We knew in transition, we had to get back,” Chatman said “And we didn’t do that well. We knew we had to rebound, we didn’t do that well.”

          The Bulldogs ever so slowly climbed to the top of the hole in the third quarter, despite scoring on consecutive possessions only once. A missed call went against them with three minutes left, down 39-34, when Taylor was whistled out of bounds right in front of the Bulldogs’ bench.

          Chatman said later, politely, that Taylor didn’t step out, and the guard just as politely concurred.

          Towns County was amid a four-possessions drought, and 3s from Wilson and then Taylor made it a two-point game, Taylor’s with 1:41 left in the third.

          The Indians made a free throw and the Bulldogs missed two in the final 33 seconds, Towns County got a buzzer-beater from Kolby Moss for a 45-40 lead after three.

          The momentum stayed with Towns County on a 7-2 run to open the fourth, including three free throws from Crowder.

          “We get right there,” Chatman said, “and we foul a 3-point shooter.”

          Hancock Central remained on the comeback trail, but an afternoon of subpar continuity and patience continued. The Bulldogs just couldn’t string together some stops-and-scores or scores-and-stops while the Indians managed some.

          “We have a tendency to do that from time to time,” Chatman said of rushed possessions. “I think this day, if we had rebounded a little better, we’d have been all right.”

          The teams mostly traded makes and misses throughout the fourth quarter, a 3 from Deonte Lowe followed by a Marquavious Lawrence tip in bringing the Bulldogs within 60-57 – the rare back-to-back scores on possessions – with 1:45 remaining.

          Hancock Central missed on two tries after a Towns County layup, and another transition bucket made it 64-57 with 50 seconds left.

          Taylor’s 3 with 11 seconds left cut it to four, and the Indians missed a freebie five seconds later, but the deal was done.

          Lawrence kept the Bulldogs alive all game and finished with 18 points and seven rebounds while Wilson had 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the final 62 seconds. Taylor had 16 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists with only two turnovers in 32 minutes.

          The Bulldogs’ big three were 21 for 50 from the floor, the rest of the team going 3 for 22.

          Jake McTaggert and Moss had double-doubles for the Indians, McTaggert with 22 points and 12 boards, Moss with 14 and 14. Crowder had 12 points and missed joining them by a rebound.

“They did what we expected them to do,” Chatman said of Towns County. “We didn’t do like we should have done.”