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By Andy States
Digital Sports Content Manager
With every win, the Pumas of Henry Wise, create a little bit of history.
Last Saturday the Pumas, in just the program's third year, won their first boys basketball regional championship. At Comcast Center in Thursday night's 4A semifinal against Thomas Stone, it appeared for a time that the regional title would be the end of this year's addition to the Wise history book. But after trailing by 11 points at the half, the Wise seniors decided they were not yet finished.
"My team came out slow," said Wise senior Delonta Boyd. "I'm a senior. I didn't want to go home early."
And due in large part to Boyd's second-half effort, the Pumas will play on. With Wise's 'Big Three' seniors -- Boyd, Phil Wood and David Golladay -- combining to score 51 of Wise's 59 points, the Pumas came back to nip the Cougars 59-57 to advance to Saturday night's 4A championship game against defending champion Springbrook, which defeated Walbrook 74-69 in the other semifinal. The final is scheduled for 8 p.m.
"I thought in the first half we had a lot of jitters," Wise coach Glennard Johnson said of his team's initial moments on the state stage. "Second half we picked up the defensive pressure and did a better job on the boards."
Stone (21-5), which came up just short in the state final a year ago after holding an 18-point second half lead, jumped out to a quick lead and showed no signs of slowing down. Junior Kendal Smith scored 12 first-half points and Leandre Eackles sparked the team off the bench with nine second-quarter points as the Cougars raced to a 38-27 halftime lead.
But Wise (21-5) picked up its full-court pressure on defense in the second half, triggering some quick transition opportunities. The Pumas also picked it up on the glass, particularly on the offensive end. Boyd had six offensive rebounds, while the team had 21 on the offensive end for the game.
Wise slowly crawled out of the hole, cutting the lead to 47-40 at the end of three. Then, with 6 minutes 3 seconds remaining, a bucket by Andre Makell -- his only points of the game -- put the Pumas in front 48-47 for the first Wise lead since 2-0. Makell's field goal capped an 8-0 Pumas run to open the quarter, and left Stone scrambling in an attempt to regain control of the game.
Stephen Battle broke the string with a pair of free throws to put Stone back in front, and went on to score 8 of Stone's 10 points in the period. But, after Golladay made 1 of 2 free throws with nine seconds left, Leon Ouzts' buzzer-beater attempt fell short and left Stone at its season end.
"There was a stretch in there about two minutes, we knew it was a game of runs," Stone coach Dale Lamberth said, "we've seen them all year and they've been a pretty good team. We just fell asleep. Boyd got about two or three crucial rebounds, and so did [Wood]. There was a time when we kind of slept and they got more energized and took advantage of all of those opportunities."
Though Stone reached the state final a year ago, the makeup of this year's team was markedly different. The core group of that team graduated, while this year's Stone team was laden with juniors that in most cases did not see much time on the court in last year's trip to Comcast Center. So while Wise created a new chapter in its history, Stone's squad was doing the same for itself.
"The guys that we had last year I had since freshmen," Lamberth said. "They were in the program for a long time. This was a relatively new group.
"Seeing them grow and get to this point right here, no one likes losing, but I think the growth that we made, I'm proud of them. That's not just a coach's cliche. They're young and starry-eyed and I thought they did a great job in the playoffs."
Smith and Battle each scored 16 points to lead the Cougars.
Boyd scored a game-high 21 points and was a monster inside in leading Wise to its first-ever state championship appearance. Wood added 19, while Golladay chipped in another 11.
In the fall, Wise's football team set a program first when it won the 4A South title. The basketball team, which includes three players that were members of that football team, has now done them one better with advancement to the state final.
"I've been here since the beginning," said David Golladay, who was the program's first-ever Division I recruit and will play collegiately at Mount St. Mary's. "Every win we're making history."
Wise 59, Stone 57
S 17 21 9 10
W 12 15 13 19
Stone: Smith 8 0-0 16, Battle 6 4-4 16, Eackles 4 0-0 9, Johnson 2 2-4 6, Schliep 3 0-0 6, Ouzts 0 2-2 2, Knight 1 0-0 2
Wise: Boyd 9 2-3 21, Wood 6 5-7 19, Golladay 4 2-4 11, Thomas 1 0-0 2, Till 1 0-0 2, Lowery 1 0-0 2, Barfield 0 1-2 1, Makell 0 1-2 1
Three-pointers: Stone 1 (Eackles); Wise 4 (Wood 2, Boyd, Golladay)
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