With region action picking up across the state, Class AAAA was the home to one of the best regular season region showdown perhaps in state history this past Friday night. It was a Region 1-AAAA battle between Carver-Columbus and Americus-Sumter that ended in a six overtime, 125-122 victory for the host Panthers. According to the Americus Times Recorder, the game set Sumter County records for "Most points by a team in a game, Most points by both teams in a game, Longest game in Sumter County history at three hours and four minutes, Six overtimes; the most in school history."
Americus-Sumter is also now tied for fifth with five other schools for the most overtimes in a victory.
The game between Americus-Sumter and Carver was the highest scoring multiple overtime game in high school basketball history, with a total of 247 points scored. The Panthers rallied to outscore Carver 22-14 in the fourth quarter and regulation ended 68-68. The first OT ended 77-77 and the second OT pushed the score to 87-87. A fourth overtime was forced at 96-96 and then the fifth overtime opened in a 107-107 tie. Americus-Sumter took a six-point lead that was lost by the end of the fifth OT and the teams went back-and-forth again in the sixth overtime. The game was locked 122-122 with 24 seconds left and an Eric Hall Jr. free throw and turnover led to a game-clinching layup. The Panthers were able to steal the ball underneath Carver’s basket to secure possession and A’Jarrien Banks sealed the game with its history-making 247th point.
Hall finished with a team-high 38 points, Joshua Lusane contributed 29 and Sh’Qual White scored 17. Americus-Sumter was beaten the next night by Westover 68-61 and the Patriots extended their winning streak to 11 games.
The big individual performance from last week came in Mary Persons' 92-76 win over Northside-Warner Robins. Player of the Year candidate Cam Holden led the way with 46 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
