Central falls to McGill-Toolen in state championship after late surge falls short

Central senior Tre Todd fought back tears on the court after the buzzer sounded on the team’s Class 7A state championship game against McGill-Toolen on Saturday.

In a game he and his teammates hope was the crowning achievement of their high school basketball careers, they instead committed 21 turnovers that resulted in 29 points for the Yellow Jackets. They had a size advantage, but allowed 20 second-chance points. And in the end, the only tally that mattered was 79-75 in favor of McGill-Toolen.

It was Central’s second trip to the state championship in program history, and it was the second time it will take the three-hour drive back to Phenix City after a loss.

“It’s just sad that we lost a game that I know we should have won,” Todd said quietly after the game. He shook his head and kept his eyes trained forward.

But coach Bobby Wright, who had experienced dejection after a championship loss in 1999, took a brighter approach, stating that the team’s success this season can’t be measured just by Saturday’s game.

“All isn’t gone just because we didn’t win,” he said with the hint of a smile. “It hurts right now, but I know the cartoons will come on in the morning. They may not be as funny, but they’re coming on in the morning.”

It was a disappointing end to an impressive season, but it was an impressive season nonetheless.

The Red Devils finished 32-2 and put together a 30-game win streak that stretched from December into the early days of March. Their two losses came by a combined five points, and they won every tournament they participated in except for the last one.

Todd finished his senior season averaging more than 16 points per game and was named to the all-tournament team after the loss on Saturday. Junior Demarkus Lampley led all scorers with 23 points in the championship and was also named to the team. Wright said that at the end of the day, he learned a lot about his program.

“I learned that our program is still one of the best in the state,” he said. “We’re going to try and stay that way. We set a standard, and we want to live up to that standard.”

They nearly did on Saturday. Central lost by just four points, despite trailing for the final 29 minutes, 30 seconds of game time. After McGill-Toolen went ahead 6-5 with 5:30 left in the first quarter, it never relinquished the lead again. It built up leads of 10, 11 and 14 points in the second half, but the Red Devils closed the gap each time.

After going into halftime trailing 36-30, Central allowed the Yellow Jackets to score the first five points in the third quarter to go ahead 41-30, their biggest lead of the game at the time. But the Red Devils responded with a 10-0 run to cut it to 41-40 less than two minutes later.

In the fourth, McGill-Toolen scored eight straight to turn a six-point lead into 14, it’s biggest margin all night, with 4:30 left to play.

Again, Central battled back.

Lampley knocked down a three-pointer and took a bump to go earn an extra free throw. He connected for a four-point play to cut it to 10. After two Yellow Jacket free throws, Central scored seven in a row, four coming from Keiondre Jakes and three from Lampley on another three-pointer.

The Red Devils had it down to as few as three points, 78-75, with 9.2 seconds left, but just couldn’t get over the hump.

“You can never give up,” Todd said.

“The game isn’t over until the buzzer,” Jakes added.

At the end of the day, it was the turnovers and the inability to keep the Yellow Jackets off the offensive glass that hurt the Red Devils.

Yellow Jackets coach Phillip Murphy said the plan was to keep Central off balance, mixing its defenses up throughout the night.

“I think what we saw tonight was a team that was off balance,” he said. “They never knew when a trap was coming, they never could quite get into their sets. Our guys did a great job of disguising it.”

The result was what Wright called the team’s worst game of the season. The Yellow Jackets grabbed 23 offensive rebounds, leading to 29 second-chance points, and outscored Central 42-22 in the paint. The two teams tied in total rebounds, a stat that Wright was scratching his head about.

“You look at those stats, and I feel like someone up there was blind,” Wright said. “I felt like they slaughtered us on the glass.”

But, there was still a lot to like. Lampley had 23 points, leading Wright to comment about his unwillingness to quit.

Jakes and Todd each had 14 and Jermond Williams had 15, including eight in the final minutes to keep Central close. Wright said it was important to keep in perspective how difficult it is to win it all.

“Winning championships, it’s not like grapes,” he said. “They don’t come in bunches. Life is going to give you some right turns, some left turns, some straightaways. We have to be ready to make adjustments regardless of what life gives us.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Central falls to McGill-Toolen in state championship after late surge falls short."