Macon ‘Waves

MACON — Redemption.

Sometimes it’s sweet. At times it’s costly.

And there are times when it’s priceless.

Then there’s this — this Terrell County brand of redemption and promise so sweet no one had words, no one had labels. All that was left was joy and more.

“I don’t have the words. There are no words to tell you how this feels,” said Greenwave coach John Davis moments after his kids had beaten Whitefield Academy, 66-63, in the GHSA Class A Final Four late Wednesday night in Macon.

Another giant had just fallen, only this giant was the one the kids from Dawson had been dreaming of beating. This was Whitefield, the team that broke their hearts a year ago in this same state semifinal round with a bitter 72-68 loss in overtime during which four of Terrell County’s starters fouled out.

“They wanted redemption. They wanted revenge after what happened last year,” Davis said. “We watched film of that game all week, and we talked all week about getting our redemption. I am so proud of them.”

Ironically, on Wednesday night, the Terrell County kids were shouting and laughing and slapping and hugging in the same locker room where they shed so many tears a year ago.

“This is sweet, sweet, sweet,” shouted Charles Brown, who hit two big 3s early and then spent most of the night on the bench in foul trouble. Brown was the only starter who didn’t foul out last year. He fouled out in the fourth Wednesday, along with Elliot Harvey.

“This tastes sweeter than my grandma’s pumpkin pie,” he shouted. “This tastes sweeter than Terel Hall’s mother’s peach cobbler. This is sweet, sweet, sweet.”

And heartfelt.

“We had to have it, had to beat them,” shouted Dekoven Ware, who had to leave last year’s OT loss early after he was poked in the eye. “My right eye feels great and I feel great. This is the best year, the best year ever! This team can go everywhere!”

They will be coming back to Macon to face the state’s top-ranked team in Wilkinson County at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday for the state title. Wilkinson had little trouble beating Greenville, 66-48, to advance. The Warriors are now 56-1 over the past two seasons, and that lone loss was to Terrell County, which knocked them out in the Elite 8 round a year ago and disrupted a 28-0 season.

“I can’t tell you how good this feels,” said Ware, who led with 16 points and 10 rebounds against a much taller Whitefield team. Whitefield’s two guards are both 6-3, and Ware, who plays inside, stands at just 6-feet.

“We had to bang with them,” Ware said. “And we did.”

Terel Hall, the Greenwave’s 5-10 lightning-quick guard who plays with more heart than speed, led the way again. He just kept getting up after getting knocked down on Wednesday and in the end lifted Terrell County into its first state title game since they won it all in 1984.

“It feels so good, so great,” he said. “It feels great for the people back home in Dawson. This is for all those people who doubted us. For those people who said we were too small. Right now we feel like we are 30-feet tall.”

At least.

Hall finished with 14 points, six steals, seven assists and a play that defined this game. Terrell county was leading, 60-53, with 3:37 left when Whitefield’s Kenneth Gaines went for an offensive rebound and saved the ball from going out of bounds with a long toss that sailed by everyone. Whitfield’s C.J. Wingate was closest to the ball, but Hall simply out-raced him, then drove the court for a drive that made it a 62-53 game.

“That was the play of my life,” Hall said. “I had to get the ball. We had to beat them. We had to get redemption for what happened last year. We’re redeemed, but we’ve got one more step. We have one more game to win it all.”

Hall’s play gave the Greenwave wave a cushion they needed because they missed four free throws, including the front end of two one-and-ones in the final minute, and Gaines hit a miracle 3-pointer with six seconds left to close to 66-63. Whitefield had one last chance when Tray Buchannan missed two free throws with four seconds left, but Gaines stepped back over the line for a backcourt violation with two seconds left to seal it. It was Whitfield’s 23rd turnover of the night.

Terrell County (27-3) trailed 7-0 early, fought back to go up 19-15 at the end of the first, and then — after a 33-33 halftime tie — fell behind in the third when Whitefield grabbed five offensive rebounds and had two put-backs and a short jumper to take a 39-33 lead in the opening two minutes of the second half.

The Wolfpack, which out-rebounded Terrell County, 10-3, in the third and 34-15 for the game, might have buried the Greenwave in the third, but the Dawson kids know how to bounce back.

“This team is mentally tough and resilient and we have done this all year,” Davis said.

Whitfield still led, 43-40, when Markez Dotson took over the game. Dotson came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers in a row to close out the third and give Terrell County a 49-43 lead. Then, Dotson opened the fourth with a 10-foot jumper to keep the momentum with Terrell County.

“When I subbed into the game, someone in the crowd yelled shoot the ball, and I did,” said Dotson, who finished with 13 points (all in the second half). “My shot was falling and I felt good. I felt like Kobe!”

They got here without a starter taller than 6-feet and without two-year starter Brian Browner, who was lost for the season when he suffered a knee injury in the region tournament, but that long road back to the Final Four led the Greenwave right smack back where they were a year ago, facing a brick wall known as Whitefield.

The Wolfpack (28-4) returned three starters — the same three players (Kennard Backman, Tekele Cotton and Gaines) who did the damage a year ago — and nothing changed in that script.

Backman banged inside and killed the glass, but scored only seven points, while Cotton finished with 13. The key was Gaines, who scored 17 first-half points but then scored just five in the second half until he hit his long 3-pointer at the end.

“We did a good job on Backman, because we knew about him from last year, and in the second half we stepped up our defense and got a hand in Gaines’ face and slowed him down,” Davis said.

Nothing appears as if it can slow down the Greenwave, who flew into Macon with a nine-game winning streak and floated out of the Centerplex on Wednesday night, a game away from the title.

Floated all the way back to Dawson.

Floated home with one thought: “Redemption,” Hall said. “Sweet redemption.”