Wilkinson County picks up 11th state championship; Fourth-quarter woes doom Baldwin
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
The game was ugly, loaded with bricks from the line and missed open shots close to the basket, and airballs from 19 feet or 15 feet.
And for most of the game, there was more ugly from Wilkinson County than Charlton County.
But the Warriors prettied things up late with clutch play all over to eke ahead and hold on for a 40-36 win over Charlton County in the GHSA Class A/Division I state championship Wednesday afternoon at the Macon Coliseum.
Justin Stanley put Wilkinson County up 37-36 with a pair of free throws – a rarity for the Warriors, who had to get hot just to connect 50 percent of the time at the line – with 44 seconds left.
As important as the free throws were, getting the fifth foul on Elyiss Williams was maybe more important. The 6-9 sophomore multi-sport standout was a beast and a pest all game, finishing with 10 points, 20 rebounds, six official blocks, and alterations galore.
“He’s a great young talent,” Whipple said of Williams. “He’s just a sophomore, I think. He has two more years. I told their coach they’re going to be tough the next two years. Once he got out, we could kind of get some baskets around the basket and get some driving lanes. He’s a tough kid. I told ‘em to keep going at him to see if we could get him out of the game. We finally did and we pushed through.”
Stanley added two more freebies 18 seconds later for a three-point lead, Wilkinson County’s largest to that point. The Warriors got the lead for the first time with 1:55 left on Kwaveon Hill’s bucket.
Charlton County’s Jarvis Wright missed a game-tying 3, Jordan Jackson grabbing the rebound, Hill finally fouled with five seconds left.
The Indians’ Jamari Hamilton got the rebound of Hill’s miss on the second shot, after making the first to seal it, and then it got a little odd.
Hamilton seemed in no hurry to get the ball downcourt, and heaved a long shot at apparently the buzzer. But officials ruled – after a fairly lengthy conference – that the Indians got a time out, and put 4.4 seconds on the clock.
Whipple kept the Warriors in front of the bench, all the better to avoid any fouls or funky finishes. Hamilton at halfcourt rolled it in to Demorrion Martin, who grabbed it a few feet in the frontcourt, rather than roll it down to the basket, score quickly, and make Wilkinson County have to inbound it, keeping the Charlton County door open.
He then turned and raced to the Warriors standing still, committing a backcourt violation in the process, and sort of heaved his body towards a player while turning and heaving the ball 60 feet towards his basket, apparently hoping for a shot to, against all science, go in while drawing foul and getting a four-point play.
But the backcourt violation would have nullified anything so inexplicable.
And the Warriors had their 11th state championship. It’s Whipple’s first as the head coach at his alma mater, and after his media obligations, he got a hug at the locker room door from the architect of the first 10, Aaron “Pete” Geter.
That came after a hug and handshake from a notable Wilkinson County alum, Bud Dupree, who hosted the team Monday night at his downtown Macon establishment Vibez.
“I feel like our experience with a tough schedule took over in the end,” said Whipple, who played at LSU.
Charlton County wasn’t sharp, but couldn’t pull away from Wilkinson County, which was less sharp. The Indians led by seven in the second quarter but only 19-16 at halftime.
“Oh man, it was tough,” Whipple said.”What’d we have at halftime? That’s probably the lowest-scoring game I’ve ever been a part of. It was a tough game, but a good game.”
Wilkinson County didn’t make a free throw until Hill’s second one with 7:30 left in the game. From then on, though, they went 8 for 13, a less-than-desired 61.5 percent.
But it was enough, the Warriors finishing an ugly game and hugging a mighty pretty trophy.
Hill led Wilkinson County with 12 points, Stanley adding 11, and Jackson with 10 rebounds. Wright also had 10 for Charlton County.
Now the current Warriors can talk back a little bit to their head coach?
“They can’t talk smack,” Whipple said with a smile. “They can talk smack to the other guys that don’t have one. They can’t talk smack to me.”
Class AAAA Girls
Griffin 51, Baldwin 47
Fourth-quarter struggles doom Baldwin
There was no four-point shot, and as the horn sounded, one of the biggest and toughest players on the floor just collapsed, seriously inconsolable and clearly just stunned that her team lost.
Janaye Walker is just a sophomore, but she felt the devastation of a veteran with years of falling short as Griffin celebrated outscoring Baldwin 8-0 in the final 1:07 to win its first state championship.
About a half hour later, Baldwin finally started emerging from the locker room. Walker got about two steps out before a police officer hugged her, and the major sobbing started all over again.
Walker certainly left everything on the Coliseum court, the sophomore center going for 21 points and 19 rebounds in 31 minutes. The Bravettes needed more from more Bravettes, though, Walker accounting for 44.7 percent of their points and 47.5 percent of their rebounds.
Baldwin was in decent shape for its first state title since a three-year run of hardware in the mid-1980s. But two simple shots were basically the difference.
Video: Michael A. Lough/The Central Georgia Sports Report
Leah Turner swished a 3 from the right side to pull the Bears – who went 3-1 against Baldwin this year – within 43-41 with 4:15 left. Turner did it again with 31 seconds left to give Griffin a 49-47 lead, Baldwin going 2 for 7 from the floor – missing three 3-pointers it didn’t necessarily need on a night in which it made no 3-pointers on nine tries - with three turnovers in between her 3-pointers.
Baldwin had fouls to give, which ate up a little time. Two Turner free throws made it a four-point game with 10 seconds left, and the Bravettes got off only a heave with six seconds left that went out off of Griffin with a second left.
Kassidy Neal scored 12 points on 6 of 17 shooting in 28 minutes, Baldwin struggling through an 18-for-48 shooting night, 37.5 percent, just below Griffin’s 36.7 percent. But the Bears were 9 of 22 on 3-pointers. The winners shot only eight free throws, but Baldwin was a cool 52.4 percent at the line, making 11 of 21, and shooting only three in the fourth quarter.
The strong-inside Bravettes held a 40-26 rebound advantage and eight more points, but had 13 more turnovers than assists, Griffin getting seven more points off of turnovers. The Bravettes got no fast-break points.
Aaliyah Duranham had 20 and Turner 17 for Griffin.