AISA FINALS: Macon East storms back to win Class AA championship

Players from Macon East Academy hoist the championship trophy after the win over Escambia Academy on Wednesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Less than two minutes into the second quarter, back-to-back turnovers by Macon East Academy led to layups on the other end of the court and a 22-11 lead by Escambia Academy in the championship game of the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA state tournament.

Macon East coach Glynn Lott called a timeout to angrily address his players.

“I told them if they were going to give the game to them, just go ahead and give it to them,” Lott said. “That’s basically what we were doing. We quit doing what we had worked on -- attacking the goal and contest their 3-point shooting. At one point, we weren’t doing either. It was probably the worst I’ve gotten on them all year.”

Macon East scored the next 10 points in the game and carried that momentum into the second half to defeat the Cougars 62-55 at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Wednesday and win its third state basketball championship in the last five years.   

What makes this championship more intriguing than most is it was accomplished after a mid season change. Former head coach Lincoln Glass was dismissed after a Jan. 5 incident at Chambers Academy and Lott took over the next day. Macon East was 3-4 at the time but finished 14-7 with a remarkable run through the AA playoffs.

“It really makes you appreciate it when you lose a head coach,” Macon East senior Jeremiah Carnegie said. “Coach Lott stepped up and took his place and really did make an impact on what Coach Glass left and we used what he instilled in us to get this championship. I’m pretty sure he’s proud of us.”

Carnegie is one of three senior starters -- and six overall -- who had their final season disrupted by COVID-19 early in the year, then by the loss of their coach in January.

“You hate what happened,” Lott said. “If there is anything I could do … I’d rather be sitting in those bleachers (as a fan) tonight. But what happened happened and we said we were all going to get together and do what was best for these kids. That’s the best part of tonight. I’m just proud of them, the way they came together and played as a group.

It didn’t look that way for the first 10 minutes of the game, but the Knights tied the game 24-24 at halftime, then fought off the Cougars the rest of the way. 

“He called a timeout and told us we weren’t playing good,” Carnegie said. “After that, we knew we had to pick it up. After that, it was all gas and no brakes. We just kept going and kept going. He told me to keep being aggressive because they were in foul trouble and I kept doing that and it got me a championship.”

Carnegie, who had failed to score in a semifinal win over Autauga, led Macon East with 16 points, scoring 10 of his points in the second half to offset an Escambia defense focusing on Maurice Poole, the team’s best perimeter shooter, and Chase Dumas, who had a big game against Autauga.

“They pretty much ran a defense to challenge Jeremiah tonight -- a triangle-and-two on the other two -- and Jeremiah stepped up and was the leading scorer tonight, which was huge for us,” Lott said.

Carnegie sank a pair of free throws and drilled a 3 pointer in the first minute of the second half to keep the second-quarter momentum going and Poole finally sank a 3 pointer to close out the third quarter and break another tie with the Cougars, but poor shot selection continued to plague the Knights through the first half of the fourth quarter.

“We don’t really know sometimes when we’re ahead and when we’re not,” Lott said.

Escambia rallied to take a four-point lead with 4:11 left on a Landon Sims’ basket, but the Knights closed out the game with a 14-3 run. Poole had a three-point play after a steal, then hit another 3 pointer to put Macon East in front 54-52. Tyler Daniels added a basket and a pair of free throws to cap a 12-1 run. 

“We weren’t shooting good in the first half but in the second half we picked it up a little bit,” Carnegie said. “Maurice hit two 3s and brought us back into it and we’re state champions.”

Dumas had 15 points for Macon East, followed by Poole with 13 and Daniels with 12.

Bubba Nettles and Sims each had 15 points to lead Escambia (9-9).

Making the all-tournament team were Poole, Carnegie and Dumas of Macon East, Landon Sims and Daughtry McGhee of Escambia and Edgewood's Austin Champion.