Eagles Landing coach Clay Crump had a gut feeling that the proper strategy to employ was to stall, with his team leading Washington County 48-42 with about four minutes to play in one of Saturday’s Class AAA quarterfinals games.
But when the Golden Hawks trimmed the lead to 48-47 with just over a minute left in regulation, after a steal and a 3-point bucket by Demetrus Taylor, that gut feeling looked as if it might have been indigestion.
But over the game’s final minute, three of the Eagles Landing stars of the game -- senior Aaron Horton and sophomores Isaiah Dennis and Desmond Ringer -- were a combined 4-of-6 from the free-throw line to preserve a 52-49 win for the Golden Eagles, sending them to the school’s first semifinals.
“I’m a coaching genius,” Crump said, tongue in cheek, afterward. He said he decided to take the air out of the ball because his team wasn’t shooting particularly well while Washington County was rebounding extremely well. And he had employed the tactic in several of the Golden Eagles’ 26 wins this season.
“We usually do a good job of keeping people off the boards, but they’re so quick and physical,” Crump said. “So my thinking was if we keep missing shots and they keep getting rebounds, we need to shorten the game. But when [Taylor] hit that three, I'm thinking, uh-oh."
Dennis, one of the main ballhandlers during the stall, acknowledged that the move hurt the team’s rhythm a bit.
“But we believe in coach,” said Dennis, who led all scorers with 18 points. “[The stall] is something we do sometimes, and coach prepares us well. We do what he tells us to do and we trust him because everything he’s told us to do has worked.”
Because of their belief in Crump and in each other, Eagles Landing is comfortable playing from behind. On Saturday night, the Golden Eagles trailed Washington County by as many as nine, 34-25, late in the second quarter. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Dennis and fellow sophomore guard Eric Wortham, sparked a 10-1 run to close the half and tie the score at 35 at halftime.
“We’ve been down by 20 before and came back and won,” Horton said. “We know if we keep playing hard and keep our composure, we can always come back.”
It’s a confidence the team gained while playing most of the season without the 6-foot-7 Ringer, who was out for two months with an ACL injury. In just his third game back, Ringer, who now comes off the bench, had 16 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
Eagles Landing’s season of firsts will continue Friday in Macon. The Golden Eagles collected their first regular season and region tournament titles this season and advanced to their first quarterfinals.
“Every time we win, we make history,” Wortham said. “We want to keep making history and win state.”
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