Ware County is now among the “elite” in Class 4A basketball, beating visiting Hiram 81-61 Saturday to advance to the “Elite 8” in the state tournament.
The Gators (26-3) last tasted second round success in 1999, when the late E.B. Price guided Ware County to the quarterfinals. It was the second (1995) and last appearance.
The first ended with a 66-54 loss in the Class 4A tournament to Windsor Forest at the Albany Civic Center, and the second was a 71-64 setback in Class 4A against Valdosta inside the same building.
Ware County had lost four second round games (2001, 2003, 2007, 2012) since the 73-63 victory over Westside Macon in 1999. The Gators have never advanced to the “Final Four.”
“We came out hot tonight,” said Ware County head coach Lenny Williams, whose team opened scoring the first 13 points. They would never trail, allowing the Hornets (19-10) to get to within two on four occasions in the first half, before stretching the lead to 11 at intermission.
“Good teams are going to make a run,” Williams said of Hiram. “We kept our composure and were able to counter. Defense wins games games and we were scrappy.”
Hiram, which dropped two of its last three games after ripping off 11 consecutive victories, posting 18 wins over a 21-game stretch to rebound from a 1-6 start, got as close as 46-41 with 3:56 left in the third period.
The Gators pushed the margin to 10 by the end of the third period, and to as many as 22 (74-52) with just over three minutes left in the game. Hiram cut the margin to 18 inside the final two minutes.
“We’ve played 29 games and that’s all the experience this team has,” said the third-year coach. “We’re young and still make mistakes because of that. But, we have good chemistry and that’s a key. They play for each other.”
Another, according to Williams, is getting stops and rebounds at the defensive end and crashing the glass at the offensive end.
“We (coaches) preach controlling the defensive boards and not letting teams get second and third shots,” he said. “At the offensive end, we want to attack and get second and third shots. I thought we did both tonight.”
Up next is a Wednesday, March 4 date at fourth-ranked Region 3 champion Jonesboro (227), a 62-58 winner over 10th-ranked Region 6 runner-up Westminster (22-5). The Cardinals have won six in a row and eight of their last 10.
“We’re going to be facing basketball schools from here out,” said Williams, referencing most of the schools are 100 percent basketball players only. “It’s going to be a war no matter who we face. I’m asking guys who have had maybe two weeks off since June, played football until November and came right to basketball to be physical and be tough for another two weeks.”
Devion Jones (careerhigh 26 points, trey) got the Gators off and running scoring six of the first 13 points for Ware County by the 4:17 mark of the first period.
Following two free throws by A.J. Williams (team-high 21 points, 14 in the first half; trey) to break the ice for Hiram with 3:38 on the clock, a Kevin Ramsey (16 points) free throw and layup off a pass from Jones extended the margin to 16-2 with 2:50 remaining.
Ware County led 20-6 after a Masiyer McKoy (11 points) free throw with 1:07 left. The Hornets scored the final five points of the period to trail 20-11.
The surge ignited a 16-4 run by the visitors, closing the deficit to 24-22 with 5:05 left in the half. After the two teams swapped the next six points, leaving Ware County with a 30-28 advantage, the Gators closed out the half with an 11-2 run with five different players scoring at least two points for a 41-30 halftime lead.
After Ware County scored the first basket to start the third quarter, the Hornets used an 11-3 spurt to get to within 48-43 with three minutes to play in the period. That would be as close as Hiram got the rest of the game. The Gators outscored the visitors 9-4 to take a 5747 advantage into the final eight minutes.
Ware County scored the first six points of the fourth stanza to open up its largest lead at 63-47 with 6:50 remaining in the game. From there the lead grew to 74-52 with 3:08 as Elan Jones (12 points) scored on three offensive put back and added a free throw following another offense rebound.
Hiram trailed 79-61 after a made basket with 1:18 to play. Two free throws by Jones with 41.9 seconds on the clock finished out the scoring.
Isaiah White’s (trey) 10 points - all in the second half - gave the Gators five players in double figures. Travis Story, Ja’Londi O’Hara and R.J. Munford all bagged two points.
The Hornets received 20 points from Jordan Smith (trey) with 15 coming in the second half.
Ware County’s margin could have been larger. The Gators converted just 19-of-40 free throws (47 percent). Hiram finished 8-of-14 (57%)
