Jackson’s Joseph Taylor fires up a 3-pointer in Tuesday’s Class 4A state semifinal against Brooks at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Taylor made a trio of threes and the winning layup with 17 seconds left in the 37-34 triumph. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
Jackson’s Keeyun “Red” Chapman slams down a putback late in the first half against Brooks Tuesday in Birmingham. Chapman finished with 11 points. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
Jackson’s Landon Duckworth puts pressure on Brooks’ R.J. Gourley Tuesday as Aggies coach Anthony Hayes looks on. Duckworth has scored just 7 points in the last three games but his strong defensive effort has been a key in the Aggies reaching the state finals. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
BIRMINGHAM — After his team had thrashed nearly everything that got in its way the last two months, Jackson coach Anthony Hayes was on a knee during a final timeout Tuesday evening asking his players if they could stop Brooks from yanking a possible second state championship from their grip.
The game in the semifinals of the state tournament was tied 34-34 with 46 seconds to go when Hayes asked the question that went straight to the bottom of their stomachs.
“I just had everybody look me in the eyes and I asked them what’s our identity? Who are we?” he said. “Can you get a stop? And they all answered yes and, what do you know, it worked out that way.”
The Lions inbounded from the sideline and in a few heavily thumping heartbeats the Aggies got what Hayes wanted. Out of a trap, Dysen Adams shook the ball loose, Joseph Taylor captured it and then raced for the layup that decided Jackson’s 37-34 victory at Legacy Arena.
The win gave the No. 7-ranked Aggies (22-4) their 15th straight win and moved them into the Class 4A state championship game against No. 2 Plainview Friday at 5:45 p.m. Plainview (31-4) upset No. 1 Fairfield 51-42 in the other semifinal.
“It means a lot to get back to state,” said 6-foot-4 forward Landon Duckworth, the elite quarterback who led Jackson to the state football championship with a 69-6 win over Cherokee County last December next door at Protective Stadium. “I’m kind of getting used to that feeling.”
So is 6-foot-4 center Keeyun “Red” Chapman, who is enjoying proving wrong those who doubted the Aggies would even return to the state tournament without graduated three-point artist Micah Caster.
“I feel great about us going back,” Chapman said. “Everybody thought we weren’t going to make it this far but look where we’re at now — we’re going back to another state championship. That motivated us a lot. We said every time a game starts, we’re going to show what we are made of.”
Taylor’s decisive basket was a rewarding end to what had been, until the ball was thrown into the air, a nervous day for the quiet 6-foot-3 junior point guard who scored 18 points. Those included three straight 3-pointers in the second period to help maintain a slender lead after leading scorer Chapman missed 5½ minutes with early foul trouble.
“Once I got out there, I still had the guts, you know,” Taylor said, “but the first three I shot, I felt great.”
Taylor, who has led Jackson in scoring five times in the 15-game winning streak, awoke around 7 o’clock Tuesday morning but not even some biscuits from Jack’s — “That was a great start,” he said — could butter up the thoughts colliding in his head.
“I had a lot of thoughts about shot selection, turnovers, that sort of thing,” Taylor said. “I was kind of worried a little bit, worried about playing bad, losing. My mind was racing.”
But once he put his feet on the court, Taylor was focused — leading to just two turnovers in 27 minutes — and finished the day as he started it, hauling the biscuit to the basket with the game and a possible second straight Blue Map in his hands as Aggies fans in one corner of Legacy Arena catapulted off their seats.
With the two-point lead, Isaiah Gladney forced another steal and foul and Taylor made a final foul shot to turn a wrench on the victory.
Jackson could not shake off the No. 9 Lions (26-10), whose changing, help-side defenses made the Aggies feel as if they were playing with rocks in their shoes.
But Hayes didn’t use much trapping or pressure until the final moments and Brooks couldn’t handle it.
“We didn’t want to be overaggressive and maybe get into foul trouble,” Hayes said. “That team shoots free throws at a high clip, so we didn’t want to give them a chance to get free points at the line. We just wanted to trust what we do in the half-court and if we had situations where we think we can get an advantage with a press or a trap, we would do it. And we were able to do that multiple times and slow them down.”
Hayes admired how his players executed the trap as well as humans can.
“We hadn’t shown the press or the trap much, so we were trying to catch them off guard,” he said. “Just to live that moment and see it come true, where you ask the guys, ‘Can you do it?’ and they say, ‘Yes sir, we can do it,’ and for them to go out and do it, man, I’m just overjoyed and proud. It normally doesn’t happen that way in high school basketball but that thing went about as close to perfect as we can get.”
Jackson led for all but 32 seconds but the Lions made the Aggies earn every point. With no shot clock, Hayes watched with his hands on his hips as Jackson was forced to be patient against Brooks’ alternating matchup zone and man-to-man defenses.
“It’s not new,” Hayes said. “We’ve kind of seen this through the playoffs. Everybody begins to sag. They’re going to play a packed line or they’re making a zone that’s real compact and tight, so it’s kind of taken away from our driving lane and our gaps. … Brooks has one of the better defenses we’ve seen. They have great length and they’re real quick at the guard spot, so they had a great game plan for us and we were just fortunate to get a win.”
But the Lions couldn’t concentrate on Taylor or Chapman or Duckworth or Rod Hamilton, the committee that scores the points. In the 15-game winning streak, the Aggies have had four different leading scorers: Taylor and Hamilton in five each, Chapman and Duckworth in three each.
Hayes likes the fact Jackson doesn’t have to depend so much on one player, as it did with Caster last season.
“He was a lot of the offense last year but we have four guys averaging double figures,” Hayes said. “So, like tonight, you may not see Landon score a lot of points, you may not see Red necessarily score a lot, but it’s spread out through this group. Take Rod Hamilton. The shots didn’t fall for him tonight but the next game he might hit five or six. It’s more of a collective effort. We’re just hanging our hat on the defensive side of the ball. If the score is 2-1, as long as we’ve got that two and make that stop, we’re good.”
Chapman’s early foul trouble didn’t cost the Aggies the lead but when he came back in late in the first half, he made an immediate impact with two putbacks, including one he slammed down at the buzzer for a 24-19 halftime lead.
‘The first part of the game, I wasn’t playing my very best, so I started thinking on the bench when I get back in, I’ve got to do what I normally do,” said Chapman, who finished with 11 points.
Duckworth has scored just 7 points in the last three games and said he couldn’t care less.
“I swear, I don’t care,” he said. “I mean, it’s cool. I’m trying to play a little bit of defense. I might not be scoring but I’m trying to produce and contribute in other ways. I think I’m doing a pretty good job now. As long as we win, I’m OK. … You know what it takes to win. If you want to get to this point, then you’ve got to play defense. You ain’t got no other choice.”
Jackson has held its opponents under 50 points in 13 of the last 15 games and under 40 nine times. That defense has led to huge winning margins averaging 27 points — until Tuesday.
“Hats off to Brooks, they’re well-coached and had a great game plan,” Hayes said. “But the resiliency of this group has been shining through and through all season long and tonight I think everybody got to see them be resilient and find a way to win a ballgame.”
Hayes said his players are but one example of a brewing championship mentality at Jackson.
“If you’re not keeping up with it, this group of guys and the other guys and gals at our school, they believe in winning,” he said. “We’re instilling in them how to win, how to carry yourself as a champion. And tonight, I think it was a great testament to what we’re trying to be. It’s not going to be easy. Life’s not going to be easy. But the heart of a champion will carry you through.”
JACKSON (37)
Chapman 4-7, 2-4, 11, Hamilton 1-11, 0-0, 3, Adams 0-1, 0-0, 0, Taylor 7-13, 1-2, 18, Duckworth 1-4, 0-0 2, Gladney 1-1, 1-2, 3, Bozeman 0-0, 0-0, 0. TOTALS 14-37 FG, 4-8 FT.
BROOKS (34)
Gourley 6-9, 3-6, 15, Ashley 0-4, 0-0, 0, C. Warren 3-4, 4-7, 10, M. Warren 2-10, 2-2, 7, Roberts 0-1, 0-0, 0, Johnson 0-0, 0-0, 0, Harris 0-0, 0-0, 0, Myrick 1-1, 0-0, 2. TOTALS 12-29 FG, 9-15 FT.
3-POINTERS
Jackson: Chapman 1-2, Hamilton 1-11, Taylor 3-5, Adams 0-1, Duckworth 0-1. TOTALS 5-20.
Brooks: Ashley 0-1, M. Warren 1-5, Roberts 0-1. TOTALS 1-7.
REBOUNDS
Jackson: Taylor 6, Chapman 5, Adams 4, Duckworth 2. TOTALS: 19 (9 offensive, 10 defensive).
Brooks: Gourley 6, M. Warren 6, C. Warren 4. TOTALS: 23 (9 offensive, 14 defensive).
POINTS
In paint: Brooks 22-18.
Off turnovers: Brooks 13-10.
Second chance: Brooks 9-6.
Fast break: Brooks 10-2.
Jackson 9 15 7 6 — 37
Brooks 6 13 10 5 — 34
