CLASS 6A AREA 3: Park Crossing, R.E. Lee overcome late switch in opponents to advance
By GRAHAM DUNN
There was plenty of intrigue entering Tuesday’s Boys’ Class 6A, Area 3 tournament, with host Park Crossing looking for its first-ever tournament championship while Robert E. Lee and G.W. Carver all having enough firepower to keep that from happening.
But a funny thing happen on the way to the day’s first tip off.
Around 2 p.m., or a little more than three hours prior to the first semifinal game, Carver learned that it had used an ineligible player for much of the season and was forced to forfeit the entirety of its wins after Christmas.
That caused a shake up in the day’s opponents. What was supposed to be Lee vs. Carver and Lanier at Park Crossing became a Lee-Lanier showdown followed by Park Crossing facing the Wolverines…. all of it without warning to the teams.
“We had heard rumblings (Monday),” Lee coach Bryant Johnson said. “I wasn’t sure if the change would be made until we basically showed up here at Park Crossing. This was certainly a first for me.”
The favorites, second-seed Lee and top seed Park Crossing, prevailed but not without a few passing shots at the powers at be.
“We went through this last year,” Park Crossing coach Courtney Ward said, referring to a mix up in last year’s area tournament schedule. “We find out (Tuesday) around 2 p.m. that we will play another opponent. It was frustrating but I told the guys it’s not about who we play, it’s about us and you have to be ready to face anyone.”
Ward credited senior Dee Smith with the encouraging words – “Eyes on us. Stay locked in and keep the same energy.”
“It wasn’t as much of what I said as just going out and playing our game,” Smith said. “We were confused at first about the switch and we had to get a few jitters out but we played our way through it.”
The Thunderbirds held off a fired-up team in Carver, winning 57-55 to advance to just the second area tournament final in school history.
“We felt like we had something to prove,” Ward said. “We sort of took it personal in that normally everyone expects Carver or Lee or even Lanier to be in this position. We already felt a little disrespect so having to face Carver in this situation was somewhat odd. But I thought we did a good job of making the adjustments.”
Lee seemed to handle the change without too much trouble in a runaway 58-36 win over the Poets. The Generals gave up the first point of the game and then reeled off 17-straight on the way to the win and a berth in the tournament finals.
“We’ve worked out way back after a slow start,” Johnson said. “We seem to get out of the gate today and really played well. We had a lull or two in the game but didn’t really affect us in the long haul.”
Lanier had almost pulled off the upset in the previous meeting with Lee, falling by just two points. The close call coupled with the change in opponent seemed to provide enough inspiration for the Generals.
“We didn’t play well against them the last time so when we heard we were going to face them, it got us excited,” guard Jakel Williams said. “We weren’t too concerned about the change. We had to play our game no matter who it was against.”
“We all know each other having already played several times,” Johnson added. “It might have thrown us a curve at first but I don’t know how much, if any, it changed our mindset.”
Williams and Pedro Bennett each finished with 14 points to lead Lee (16-9). Jerel Brown had nine points for Lanier.
In Park Crossing’s win over Carver, the Thunderbirds trailed at the half by five but made up the difference early in the third quarter. They took the lead early in the period on a 3-pointer from Smith and led 41-39 after three quarters.
In the fourth period, the lead went back and fourth until the Thunderbirds took a 53-51 lead with just over three minutes left in the game. They led by four before a JaMichal Adair three-point play cut the PC lead to a point, 56-55, with 44 seconds left.
But Carver suffered two turnovers and a missed 3-pointer in the final seconds with the last effort on a 3-point attempt by Adair coming up short at the buzzer.
Smith led the T’Birds (23-4) with 19 points and Williams added 13.
Adair finished with 20 points. Kendal Parker had 24 and Garrett added 13 for Carver, which was eliminated from the area tournament in the semifinals for the first time since 2000.
Lee will face Park Crossing on Friday with both teams advancing to the Class 6A Southeast Sub-Regionals on Feb. 15.