CLASS 6A SOUTH REGIONAL: Lanier closes another chapter in loss to Park Crossing
The Sidney Lanier Poets played their final basketball game in school history on Thursday, falling to Park Crossing in the Class 6A South Regional semifinals at Garrett Coliseum. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
In the postseason, the motto is often to win or go home.
For Sidney Lanier, there is no home to return to.
The Poets closed the book on the area’s most historic basketball program, finishing their season with an inspirational performance against Park Crossing in the South Regional semifinal at Garrett Coliseum on Thursday afternoon.
For Park Crossing, the win means the Thunderbirds (17-11) will face G.W. Carver on Tuesday for the South Regional championship at Garrett Coliseum at 10:45 a.m.
For Sidney Lanier, the loss means the end of a storied program that will merge next season with Carver, putting an end to what has always been the area’s top basketball program.
“It really hasn’t hit me yet,” Lanier coach Terry Thomas said. “I haven’t thought about it because I was just thinking ahead toward winning but, yeah, this is the last one.”
The Poets (17-14) wouldn’t go down without a fight. Time and again, they battled back from deficits, even cutting a five-point deficit in the final two minutes to tie the game in the final seconds, only to have Jayden Scott hit a free throw to give the Thunderbirds a 46-45 win at the buzzer.
Park Crossing kept beating back the Poets, only to have them rally each time.
“With their whole situation, what’s going on with their school, they don’t have anything to lose,” Park Crossing coach Courtney Ward said. “So, of course, they’re going to go out and give it their absolute all. I just reminded my guys I’ve got three guys who have been in this position (in the regionals), I’ve got two guys who have been to the Final Four, you know what it takes to get to that next level.”
Thomas said it was a “tough call” that sent the Thunderbirds to the free-throw line in the final seconds with the game tied, perhaps a tougher call than usual in his mind because an official’s decision ended a program that meant so much to so many people.
“As a kid, when I was at Bellingrath (Junior High), Steve Rogers and those guys were there,” Thomas said. “I remember my dad taking me to games. All I ever wanted to be was a Lanier basketball player. To get the opportunity to play for Coach (John) Bricken and (assistant) coach (Floyd) Mathews and to go off and come back and be the coach myself is really going full circle. I was proud to have the chance to do it.”
Rogers, now the boys’ basketball coach at Booker T. Washington, was the sharp-shooting perimeter star when the 3-point shot was introduced in the mid 1980s. He was the first of the great 3-point specialists in the area that brought some excitement to Walker-Joiner Gym. Thomas, who came along after Rogers, was another.
The Poets started this season with a 3-9 record, but Thomas said his team won 15 of its final 18 games, a red-hot squad that, like the football team, defied the odds as players abandoned the old high school on South Court Street once they heard it was closing.
“We had a lot of conversations about it because there were a lot of rumors going around and some indecision,” Thomas said. “We lost 10 kids because when they first said they were going to close down the school, year before last, we had a lot of kids transfer. The kids that were out there tonight, those were the ones who really wanted to be at Lanier. It’s been tough, but we held it together.”
Park Crossing got 14 points from Scott and 13 from Caden Anderson-Teal to advance to the regional final. Trevon Gilmer-Berry and Quinterius Smith each had 12 points for Lanier, two players who may return to the regionals next year in Carver uniforms.
“Some of our kids still have time left, a year or two,” Thomas said, “so I’ve got to try to help them get situated. Most of them are in the zone to go to Carver and I think most of them will end up over there. I’m going to do everything I can to get them to go there so they can stay together.”
For Thomas, he will be the footnote to a long list of ultra-successful coaches who made Lanier a household name throughout the state. From Neal Posey (1950-55) to Bill Joiner (1962-70), from John Bricken (1975-93) to Floyd Mathews (1994-2012), coaches at Lanier were known throughout the state for their ability to mold basketball players into state championship contenders.
Thomas, who just completed his fourth season at the school, never had that chance but his teams, much like those who came before him, were known for their competitive spirit, something that was on display again on Thursday.
Thomas, still thinking about how his coaching tenure -- and his beloved alma mater’s basketball program -- came to a sudden end on Thursday, isn’t sure of his coaching future.
“I don’t know yet,” Thomas said. “I’ve had discussions about a job over there (at Carver) but I really couldn’t say or do anything until we got through with this (season).”
It took a little more than a quarter to figure it out, but once the Pike Road Patriots got their offense rolling, the Patriots rolled into the regional finals for only the second time in school history.
“I told them all we have to do is be patient in our offense and we’ll get anything we want,” Pike Road coach Barry Fencher said. “A big game like this, there’s some nervousness but once we started picking it up and making the right passes, we were getting layups on the other end.”
The Patriots (25-6) will face area rival Park Crossing (27-1) in the South Regional championship game on Tuesday at 9 a.m. The Thunderbirds have won each of the previous three meetings this year.
Pike Road and Theodore were locked in an 8-8 tie at the end of the first quarter of Thursday’s regional semifinal as the Partiots struggled to find their rhythm. Over the next seven minutes, they would outscore the Bobcats 11-0 to take charge of the game.
“They were throwing it to the wrong person,” Fencher said of his players. “Any time like that, when they’re sending two people at you, you don’t put it on the floor. You’ve got to find the open person. We were trying to dribble through it. That’s what we talked about at halftime. There’s only five people on the floor. If two of them are on you, somebody’s open.”
Jazz Johnson had 12 points, seven steals and six rebounds to lead the Patriots, while KJ Fencher added 11 points. Pike Road also picked up some help from first-year junior Audrey Blaine, a transfer from Missouri who had eight points, six rebounds and a team-high three assists.
“When she came in, we told her she was going to be a big part of what we do offensively and defensively,” Fencher said. “Audrey is a veteran player. She’s been playing big-time basketball all her life. We’re just glad to have her.”
Against a bigger lineup, the Patriots also got valuable help in the post from Tomeria Blythe, who had nine points in 15 minutes of playing time.
“She’s got that ability,” Fencher said. “If she makes six to eight points a game, we’re in good shape.”
Pike Road has reached the sub-regional round in all six years of existence, but has only reached the regional final twice. In 2020, the Patriots earned a berth to the state tournament, but hasn’t returned to the regional finals again until this season.
“The last time we were here, Jazz (Johnson) was a sophomore, the rest of them were freshmen,” Fencher recalled. “I knew if we didn’t start out good, it was going to be a bad thing. Charles Henderson got us because we were so young. But this is a veteran team now.”