4A BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (2012) RECAP

UNBELIEVABLE FINISH to the 4A State Championship Game! The Gaffney Indians are State Champions again! Another Title for Title Town,SC! The headlines in the area newspapers said "Drama in Columbia" and "Wow"! I couldn't have said it any better. There was tremendous Drama in Columbia and Wow what a finish. The Tribe defeated the Lexington Wildcats 58 to 55 in overtime to win the State Championship of 4A basketball. Let's recap this classic Championship game.

Lexington Wildcats vs Gaffney Indians..... The game started slow with both teams struggling to execute offensively. Both teams were playing very good defense and the score at the end of the 1st quarter was Gaffney 7 and Lexington 6. The score looked more like a football score than a basketball score.

The Tribe built an early 2nd quarter lead of 11 to 6 but, Lexington would end the quarter with a 9 to 3 run to lead by 15 to 14 at the half. Gaffney's L.J. Peak would only score 3 points in the 1st half.

The offensive production picked up in the 3rd quarter with Lexington outscoring Gaffney 18 to 16 to lead 33 to 30 after the 3rd quarter. Quinshad Davis and L.J. Peak scored all of Gaffney's 3rd quarter points. Peak really came out being more aggressive in the 3rd quarter, with his jump shot not falling he was taking it to the hoop. Davis and Peak ended the 3rd quarter in foul trouble and Lexington's star Shaq Roland was also in some foul trouble. The foul trouble added to the dramatic finish to the game.

The Tribe trailed the entire 4th quarter until the waning seconds and were down by as much as seven points with 2:35 left to play. With the score 46 to 39, the Tribe started storming back behind some clutch baskets and their press causing a couple of turnovers. Gaffney cut the Lexington lead to 47 to 45 behind a couple of baskets by Peak and a couple of free throws by Kerry Williams. Then with 10.7 seconds left and Lexington leading 50 to 48, Gaffney's Quinshad Davis fouled Shaq Roland and it put Roland on the line for two shots and it fouled Davis out of the game. All Roland had to do was hit both free throws and Lexington probably wins the game but, he misses both free throws and then fouls Peak in frustration, as Peak was driving the ball passed half court with 7.1 seconds left. Peak calmly swished both free throws and the Tribe had tied the game up at 50 to 50. Another dramatic point in the game was the foul of Peak by Roland which sent Roland to the bench with his 5th foul. Lexington still had one last try to win the game in regulation, as Sam McDermott missed on a drive to the basket and also missed a put back by Nygel Gates as time expired in regulation. So we were headed to overtime tied at 50 to 50. We are also headed to overtime with Gaffney's Quinshad Davis having fouled out and Lexington's Shaq Roland had fouled out as well. Lexington's Sam McDermott also had an injury at the end of regulation.

The overtime started with Lexington going up 52 to 50 and then Gaffney got the lead for the first time since the 2nd quarter on an old fashioned three point play by Peak that put the Tribe up 53 to 52. Peak then added to the drama by fouling out with 2:48 left. Lexington went back in front 54 to 53 before the tribe got a basket and a free throw from Cobby McDowell and a free throw from Keenan Littlejohn to put Gaffney up 57 to 55. Gaffney's Kerry Williams then went to the line with the Tribe up 57 to 55 with 19.8 seconds left and made one of two to put Gaffney up 58 to 55. Lexington came down and tried to get off a three point shot but, had to call timeout with three seconds left. Lexington put three point specialist Sam McDermott back in the game and he tried an off balance three pointer that was missed and the Tribe had escaped with an unbelievable overtime victory 58 to 55 over Lexington.

My View From The Stands..... (1) It was a tremendous crowd in the Colonial Life Arena on Friday night. Gaffney had a great turnout as did Lexington. (2) There was an outstanding atmosphere for a tremendous basketball game. (3) If you would have told me that both Quinshad Davis and L.J. Peak would foul out and Micheal Wright would not score and Gaffney would win the ball game I would have thought you were crazy. (4) Davis and Peak were outstanding in the 2nd half before fouling out. (5) The Gaffney bench came up big late in the 4th quarter and overtime. (6) I have never seen a team handle adversity as well as this Gaffney team did this season. They just found a way to win ball games when things were stacked against them. (7) I saw 39 fouls called in this game. There were several questionable calls.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

L.J. Peak..... 22 points
Quinshad Davis..... 15 points
Kerry Williams..... 12 points
Cobby McDowell..... 6 points
Tee Smith..... 2 points
Keenan Littlejohn..... 1 point
Micheal Wright..... 0 points
Tee Hardy..... 0 points
Ron Best..... 0 points

The next edition of Tribe Blitz will be on April 1st.

Until Next Time.