By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          By the time the GHSA basketball championships are done Saturday night, there likely won’t have been a less assuming head coach than Ricky Chatman.

          Who, by the time the championships are done, Saturday night, might have a second straight state title trophy, and second in a four-year head coaching career.

          And a coach career that has been spent in perhaps the most unassuming place represented during championship week, Hancock Central in Sparta.

Last year
Hancock Central trying to return state championship to region
Hancock Central survives late slump to win title

          Chatman and the Bulldogs have a lunchtime date Saturday at the Macon Coliseum with Town County for the Class A Private championship.

          Hancock Central is 15-1 and Towns County, located along the Georgia-Tennessee border, is 24-3.

          Sparta is among the poorer communities in the state, except when it comes to basketball, strong support that is likely to be on hand to see if its team can repeat.

          “We have like 220 kids,” said Chatman, a 1984 Hancock Central grad. “We don’t have any industry here, so we know we’re not going to have players transfer in. We’ve been consistent all these years with what we have, and it’s been a blessing.”

          Chatman played with Harvey and Horace Grant in the early 80s, as well as Richard Smith, who was a four-year football letterman at Clemson when the Grants there. Chatman played center, a 6-3, 220-pound center, at UNC Asheville right after the program jumped up to Division I.

          And among those he has coached – the only part of his life he’s been out of Sparta was basically just those college years – is Kammeon Holsey, who went on to be a regular at Georgia Tech for four years from 2010-2014.

          The blessing has continued with the nucleus of this year’s team: Jamal Taylor, Leroy Wilson, and Marquavious Lawrence. They had to do a little more than expected to help make up for the loss of seven seniors from last year’s team, which was deeper than this year’s.

          “It’s like the Kentucky Derby,” said Chatman, who has a full teaching load of science-oriented classes. “We had a lot of horses. We were going 10 strong.”

          So the Bulldogs played in waves, and wore teams down, led by Wilson, Taylor, and Lawrence along with Darious Walker and Treyvion Crayton, among others.

          “Last year, we we probably had 15 or 16 ‘mercy’ games,” Chatman said of 30-point spreads entering the fourth quarter, leading to a running clock.

          And that included the playoffs, like a semifinal win over Wilcox County, the Bulldogs leading 33-12 after one quarter. The Bulldogs beat Treutlen 61-58 in overtime last year,

          This year, enough to count on one hand, but there have still been some routs, like by 42 and 26 over GMC, 69-18 and 68-39 over ACE, and 66-46 over longtime rival Wilkinson County to counter the only loss of the season, a 64-61 Warriors win at the end of January.

          Of course, the abbreviated schedule cut down on those opportunities, but it also forced the Bulldogs to get things right early. After a 73-52 romp over Fulton Leadership Academy in the first round of the playoffs, the Bulldogs have won by 10, two, and one, Taylor hitting buzzer-beaters against Terrell County in the quarterfinals and Dublin in the semifinals.

          Taylor has etched his name in the impressive Hancock County basketball lore. He averaged 15.5 points last year in earning region player of the year honors. He earned the same thing last fall in football as Hancock Central had a surprisingly strong year at 7-1, and he’s likely to repeat the basketball feat after the region meeting on Monday.

          The 5-11 standout had 13 points, eight rebounds, and four steals in 36 minutes of the championship game to help Hancock Central overcome a wretched 9-for-27 night at the free-throw line, including 2 for 10 in the fourth quarter.

          The Bulldogs led 28-23 at halftime, even with a 5-for-22 shooting slump in the second quarter. His layup with 11 seconds in overtime gave the Bulldogs a 59-58 lead, and then a steal seconds later set up two free throws by Jamarcus Morris for the final margin.

          Chatman, who is at least as concerned, if not moreso, about his students performance on year-end milestone tests, has confidence in Taylor and Wilson, both of whom are 3.5 students.

          And both played for the reigning Class AAAA state championship coach Anthony Webb, another Hancock Central grad who spent year after year in Sparta. Webb left and spent a year at Worth County, giving way to Chatman, who didn’t really want the job.

          That’s the same scenario a couple decades ago when Chatman was head coach and Webb returned to his alma mater as his assistant. After two seasons, Chatman and Webb switched positions, Chatman need time for his specialist degree while realizing that Webb was better suited – after a decade on the staff at Albany State – to be the head coach. Two state finals trips followed.

          Webb took over at Baldwin before last season, so naturally, his ex-teammate was in the stands on Wednesday night watching the Braves take the 4A title.

          It was a struggle for a Hancock Central man to pull for Baldwin.

          “Baldwin has been our nemesis,” Chatman said. “Back then, Baldwin was a powerhouse. They always had guys that were like 6-7, 6-8, NBAish-type players. So, having to pull for Baldwin the other night …

          “I wasn’t really pulling for Baldwin, I was pulling for Coach Webb. But they came together.”

          “Webb is likely to return the favor Saturday, but there won’t be any mixed emotions, he’ll be all in for his alma mater, and many players – including Taylor, who he talked with last weekend – he’s familiar with.

          And he’ll watch his former boss, former assistant, former teammate, and lifetime friend go for the rare accomplishment of defending a state championship, and doing so amid a year of great uncertainty.

          Which includes Chatman’s plans.

          “I wanted to retire last year,” Chatman said of his coaching career, much of which has been spent alongside 1990 Hancock Central grad Chris Davis. Who knows? Maybe he’ll return to the past and work to hand the reigns over to Davis and move back to the assistant’s role so he can again focus more on teaching.

          But first things first, and that’s trying to win another state championship, with the more soft-spoken head coach and the assistant who “does all the fussing” and a team adding to the program’s history books.

          “Our principal came in (Friday),” said Chatman, who may not have been part of a sub.-500 season since he’s been on the bench. “ ‘I know y’all are gonna be a little bit nervous.’ No, they said, ‘we’re ready to go. We’ve been there before.’”