STATESBORO — The Bradwell Institute Tigers and the Effingham County Rebels third matchup in Lee Hill Arena didn’t disappoint, as all knew it wouldn’t.
Just like their first two meetings, the most recent went to overtime.
But this time around, the stakes were higher as it was a chance for a Region 2-6A championship appearance.
The Rebels clinched a trip to the Region 2-6A championship, outlasting the Tigers (15-11) 62-58 in overtime.
The teams showed signs of familiarity, forcing each other to play at a slow pace and combining for only 17 points in the first quarter with the Tigers holding a 9-8 lead.
“I think it was more of us making adjustments for what we were trying to do,” Tigers Head Coach Ty Randolph said after the game. “We predicate everything on defense.”
The Rebels took the lead quickly in the second quarter as the Rebels took a 12-9 lead two minutes into it, causing Coach Randolph to use a timeout.
By the halftime buzzer, the Rebels held a 26-20 advantage over the Tigers.
Following the break, the Tigers saw themselves down by as much as 10, missing shots and making unforced errors.
But the forth quarter saw the Tigers make what could have been a game breaking run with three consecutive unanswered and one scores.
Jaylin Frasier, who led the team in points on the night with 12 took a 42-40 lead on a contact layup.
“Jaylin is Jaylin,” Randolph said about the senior shooting guard. “We were trying to tell him early in the game that that’s one of those things we got to have earlier. But it’s better earlier than late.”
Then Jonathan Bryant converted on one of his own to extend the lead to 45-40.
Tahshaun Frasier concluded it all with an and-one take to the basket.
This had Bradwell leading 48-40 with 3:04 left and all signs pointing to them advancing to the region championship game as they held the momentum in crunch time.
“In the first half, we were kind of hit and miss a lot on assignments and staying consistent but we saw a different type of intensity in the second half,” Randolph said. “We clawed our way back in and pretty much had a chance to win it. We saw a big adjustment with what we were doing in the press and we challenged the ball a lot different in the halfcourt. We caused them to shoot a lot of jumpshots and they missed them or turned the ball over.”
But Effingham stormed back within those three minutes.
They had the ball with 14 seconds coming out of a timeout and looked to Khiry Wallace, and he delivered, swishing a three from the right corner to tie the game at 52 with six ticks left on the clock.
The Tigers went full court and gave it off to Rishard Money, who made a three but didn’t get it off in time, sending the game to overtime for these team’s third time this season against each other.
2:14 into overtime Keion Wallace stole a pass at halfcourt and jammed a dunk to pull Effingham ahead 56-54.
Dar‘kari Pasley finished at the basketball to knot it at 56 before Caleb Williams quickly brought the Rebels up two points again.
Ja’mar Price tied it at 58 before the Rebels quickly took the lead again thanks to Kh. Wallace.
Pasley got the ball on the left block but was called for a travel, forcing the free throw game to begin as the Rebels punched their ticket to the Region 2-6A title game.
“We call that our closing,” Randolph said of the extra time. “We saw the immaturity of never being there before in a magnitude like that. It’s one thing to play like that in a regular season game but you got to be a little bit better with the stakes of going to to play for the region championship. It hurts and disappointing but we’ll be in that situation again and I promise you we’ll come out next time we’re there.”
The Tigers will play in the Consolation game on Thursday at Statesboro, which will tipoff at 6 p.m. against the loser of Statesboro/Glynn Academy.
A Tiger win will earn them a three seed in the Class 6A state playoffs – A loss, four.