Calhoun County’s Quanderious Powell only made three baskets in the Class A Public boys championship. All of them came in the fourth quarter. The first two? Somewhat memorable. The final one? Unforgettable.
The senior forward took a pass from Tykevious Curry and scored just ahead of the buzzer to give the Cougars a thrilling 69-67 win over Treutlen in the title game at the Macon Coliseum.
“(Treutlen) was giving hard effort, like we were,” Curry said. “I think we wanted it more, so we came out with the win.”
The game was tied 67-67 after Calhoun County’s Jahmad Wiley made a left-handed runner with 20 seconds left. Treutlen had a chance to go ahead but a shot by Arkavias Lovett missed and the rebound bounced off a Viking and went out of bounds.
That left Calhoun County with 8.8 seconds to drive the length of the court.
“Ty pushed the ball up court, saw me wide open and dished it and I finished it,” Powell said.
Calhoun County coach Marcus Shaw said, “We knew we were in the bonus and 8.8 seconds is a lot of time. We definitely wanted to get to the basket and that’s what we did.”
The victory gave Calhoun County its third state championship, its first since 2015, and completed a perfect 32-0 season. Treutlen finished 30-2, with both losses coming to Calhoun County.
“That was two good basketball teams,” Shaw said. “I knew they’d come here ready to play and our kids proved they could play hard.”
Calhoun County was led by Jahmad Wiley with 18 points, Curry with 16 points and Juwaun Wiley with 13 points and five rebounds.
Treutlen got 17 points and seven rebounds from James Byrd, 15 points and eight rebounds from Arkavias Lovett, 14 points and 11 rebounds from Kamron Jordan and 10 points from Tafarjae Jordan.
“This means a lot,” Shaw said. “At the start of the season this was our goal. The kids worked hard every day. A lot of people didn’t think it was possible, but our kids worked and worked and now we’re state champs.”
Treutlen led by three points on two occasions down the stretch, but Calhoun County tied the game 63-63 on a driving layup by Edwin Wims with 2:02 remaining. Treutlen’s Lovett converted a three-point play, but the Cougars answered with a basket by Bryan Smith. Treutlen’s Tafarjae Jordan made one of two free throws with 40 seconds left to set up the final sequence.
Treutlen dominated the glass, outrebounded Calhoun County 46-31. But the Vikings only shot 38.2 percent from the field and turned it over 16 times.
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