‘Level-headed’ resilience moves Commerce basketball to second round
COMMERCE — Gold shirts packed the bleachers at the Commerce High School gym Wednesday. Students leaned over railings. Parents stood two-deep along the baseline. Every possession seemed louder than the last, like the building understood something bigger might be unfolding.
It’s been 15 years since the Commerce boys basketball team made the quarterfinals in the GHSA state playoffs and more than half a century since the program reached the final four, a benchmark that still echoes through the program’s history.
Commerce has never won a state title.
After Wednesday’s 57-48 first-round victory over Social Circle, the Tigers, seeded ninth in Class A Division I, are closing in on territory that has long felt distant.
This might not have been a team on everyone’s radar in November, but in late February, it’s one worth sticking around for. The Tigers — undefeated at home this season — took top-ranked, second-seeded Rabun County to overtime in the region tournament, showing what the team is capable of in the postseason.
Although the first-round game wasn’t a flawless showcase of the Tigers’ strengths, Commerce proved it could remain composed when shots weren’t falling cleanly and momentum was shifting with each possession.
“I feel like we all stayed level-headed and we brought back energy,” junior guard Essien Lockleer said of the first-round win. “Everybody was level-headed. Usually we have a hard time doing it. We kept everybody up, and that helped us with the win a lot.”
Against No. 8-seed Swainsboro in the second round Saturday and in a potential quarterfinal matchup at top-seed Vidalia, they’ll need that steadiness, which is usually anchored by Maki Mitchell. The junior guard leads Commerce offensively, averaging 15.3 points per game.
Mitchell enters Saturday’s game just 13 points shy of 1,000 for his career — a milestone that could arrive as the Tigers try to extend a season already edging toward history.
“Don’t take any minute for granted,” Commerce head coach Sherrard Brantley said after Wednesday’s game. ”We were down early, we had to battle back, and then we had to keep battling once we did get here. So the fact that we did that, I’m proud of our guys.”
