Jackson’s Isaiah Gladney puts up the winning shot over Plainview’s Sawyer Wilborn with a second to go in Friday night’s Class 4A state championship game at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
Jackson’s Keeyun Chapman played way over Plainview’s head in the first half and finished with 10 points in the Aggies’ 44-42 win for the Class 4A state title Friday night in Birmingham. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
Jackson point guard Joseph Taylor scored 13 points against Plainview in the state finals Friday to be named the MVP of the state tournament. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
Jackson’s Landon Duckworth makes a move to the basket against Plainview during the Class 4A state finals in Birmingham. (Helen Joyce/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
BIRMINGHAM — Jackson’s Isaiah Gladney didn’t see all the wires running out of the backboard, nor the bright lights shining in his eyes from the high reaches of Legacy Arena, maybe not even Plainview’s Sawyer Wilborn sliding over to get in his way and not even the clock that was silently draining down to milliseconds when he snared the basketball with his left hand.
He did see an orange hoop, a Blue Map and a chance to go down in history, so he went up.
There were three feet between Gladney and the basket when he turned, switched the ball to his right hand, squared himself and sprang off the floor while Wilborn, who is three inches shorter, threw up his arms and threw out his chest.
Gladney released the ball that carried the weight of a state championship and the hopes of two communities and it banged high off the right corner of the square, took a hard left turn and barely made the net rustle a heartbeat before the backboard glowed red.
The next thing Gladney knew, he was on the floor at the bottom of a pile of his teammates who were celebrating the Aggies’ 44-42 victory Friday night to give Jackson its second straight Class 4A Blue Map.
Gladney — who was averaging 5.5 points per game and came off the bench when star forward Landon Duckworth suffered first a twisted ankle and then got into foul trouble — said he was surprised to see the ball come to him.
“It wasn’t easy trying to make the shot but you just know if you gotta put your team in position to win, you gotta do it,” Gladney said.
No. 7-ranked Jackson (23-4), which finished the season with a 16-game winning streak, had piled up a 26-13 halftime lead before the No. 2 Bears (30-7) came back to take the lead behind a full-court press that forced eight second-half turnovers and Wilborn’s seven points around the basket in the fourth period.
Plainview, which led for only 1:45 the entire game, had possession with 46.9 seconds left in a 42-42 tie and could have taken the last shot but Cy Traylor let the ball squirm away from him into press row to give the Aggies the final opportunity.
During the last timeout, Jackson coach Anthony Hayes went through several options, none of which involved Gladney. He had hoped for three things — a high-middle screen to point guard Joseph Taylor, who had beaten Brooks 37-34 in the semifinals with a layup off a steal; Rod Hamilton in the corner for a 3-pointer; or Keeyun Chapman, who had dominated the first half, down low.
“Gladney had a different opinion about what he wanted to do, so we’ll take it,” Hayes said.
Nothing Hayes drew up up came off as planned. Off the inbounds pass, Taylor got behind the play and Chapman found himself in the corner. Dysen Adams drove toward Chapman and the Bears’ defense leaned his way. Gladney saw the flow of the play go away from him, rolled the other way to the basket and gathered the pass from Adams with his left hand as Wilborn emerged and tried to draw a charge but didn’t get his feet set.
Hayes leaped off his feet as the ball trickled through the basket and Duckworth led a jubilant charge off the bench, shoving Gladney to the floor as his teammates cascaded down on him.
“Isaiah is that ‘X’ factor for us,” Hayes said afterward, the sweat glistening on his forehead as he removed his state championship cap. “For the ball to end up in his hands in that situation, I don’t know if I would want it to be in anybody else’s hands. I didn’t draw it up that way but when he had it in his hands, I don’t have a problem with it at all. I have great confidence in him every time he’s on the floor. That’s his game. In tough situations, that’s Isaiah Gladney. His name’s not always in the lights and he’s not always in the paper but he is that ‘X’ factor for us and we needed it. … if you learn how to win in those situations, I think you can win in anything.”
With three junior starters returning next season — Chapman, Taylor and Hamilton — the Aggies will be favored to win a third straight state championship and Gladney might even work his way into the starting five.
Duckworth, one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, likely played his final high school basketball game as he plans to graduate early in December after he and Chapman attempt to lead Jackson to back-to-back state football championships.
Chapman and Duckworth, who are also stars on the school’s state championship 4×100 relay team, might start running out of fingers for rings and Hayes said his program won’t rest on its suddenly growing collection of Blue Maps.
“This is what we want to be as a school, as a community, as students, as an administration,” Hayes said. “Having those guys come back, (a three-peat) will be the talk instantly. But for us, we’ll put it to bed, I promise when I say this — we’ll focus on finding an identity for the next group ’cause it won’t be the same. And then, we’ll just get back to work. We’ll begin to build our next house brick by brick. And if it leaves us here, then we’ll take it. But if not, we just want to be the best we can be.”
The Aggies are 53-6 the last two seasons and few expected them to successfully defend their 2024 state championship after losing three-point bomber Micah Caster.
“We’re probably one of the state champs that a lot of people didn’t talk about,” Hayes said. “We were able to fly under the radar and started playing some good basketball down the stretch and what do you know, we find ourselves on the podium again. We didn’t come into the year saying let’s go back-to-back. We just came in and said let’s be the best we can be. We just really wanted to focus on finding our identity and getting better as the year went on. We had to find a stride and believe in what we wanted to do and it was on the defensive side.”
Defense was the constant in another surge to a state championship. Jackson finished last season with a 20-game winning streak and this time the Aggies held their opponents under 50 points in 14 of the last 16 games.
“They’re resilient, they’re coachable, they’re winners,” Hayes said. “I’m telling you, if you’re not keeping up with Jackson, you may want to.”
Early in Friday’s game, Plainview couldn’t keep up with the Aggies and particularly the 6-4 Chapman, who was playing above the rim and commanding the sky with offensive rebounds and blocks. Anything the Bears tried down low disappeared under Chapman’s glowering presence.
By halftime, Jackson had outscored the Bears 14-4 in the paint and 7-0 off second chances with an 17-5 rebounding advantage.
“We played really well in the first half,” Hayes said. “At the half, we asked what’s the neutralizer in basketball? It’s the three-point shot. If you can shoot the three, you’re never out of a ballgame and we knew it would be a ballgame. We knew they would make some threes.”
The complexion of the game changed in the second half, first as Plainview succeeded in bringing Chapman down to earth. He didn’t get another offensive rebound or second-chance point.
“They tried to rip my clothes off,” said Chapman, who tugged on his jersey. “I was telling the referee but they weren’t calling it.”
Secondly, the Bears’ trapping, full-court press and four 3-pointers from Wilborn, Trey Rutledge and Owen Hope chewed up the Aggies’ lead.
“We knew they would have to press,” Hayes said. “We wanted to be disciplined. We did want to run some of the clock to try to shorten the game. They had a blitz going at Joseph and sometimes we didn’t execute the way we should. We had some guys leave some spots they were supposed to be in. But credit to Plainview for executing that part of the game. We did want to try to slow the game down, shorten the game, maybe get into the bonus and finish the game that way.”
Jackson went on a 10-0 run to push the lead back to 40-31 on Duckworth’s feed to Chapman with 6:49 to play but the Aggies had four turnovers in a scoreless drought that lasted four minutes as the Bears drew close.
Taylor’s cross-court pass to Chapman for a dunk gave Jackson a 42-40 lead with 1:54 to go and Wilborn scored in the paint with 1:46 remaining to tie it 42-42.
“We just said, ‘Hey, win the next possession,’” Hayes said. “Even when they went up, win the next possession. That’s kind of who we’ve been and who we are.”
Taylor, the state tournament’s MVP, had 13 points and 4 assists Friday night, the sixth time he was the leading scorer during the 16-game winning streak.
“It’s just special,” Taylor said. “Me and my mom hugged and she just, you know, tears just poured down her face and she said she’s proud of me.”
Plainview coach Cade Willingham, who played on two of the Bears’ four state championship teams in 2018 and 2019, took the defeat with stoic class.
“We had our chances,” he said. “Give Jackson credit. When we took the lead, they did what good teams do and took the lead back. I told these guys that regardless if we win or lose, we’re going to give God the glory. We praise Him on the mountain, we praise Him in the valley.”
The first-year coach was grateful his players gave him a chance.
“These guys bought into a young guy that a lot of them grew up, I guess, watching me play,” Willingham said. “We had some guys that were waterboys when I was on the floor last time we were here.”
There is no telling how many future Aggies Gladney influenced Friday night.
“He made a shot that I think Jackson will remember forever,” Hayes said.
PLAINVIEW (42)
Wilborn 8-13 3-4 21, Rutledge 1-4 0-0 3, Hope 2-4 2-2 8, Nickleson 3-7 0-0 6, Traylor 0-4 2-2 2, Sampson 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 1-3 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15-35 FG, 7-8 FT.
JACKSON (44)
Chapman 5-8 0-0 10, Hamilton 3-11 0-0 9, Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor 5-9 3-6 13, Duckworth 1-5 2-2 4, Gladney 4-5 0-0 8, Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, Bozeman 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-38 FG, 5-8 FT.
3-POINTERS
Plainview: Wilborn 2-2, Rutledge 1-4, Owen 2-2, Nickleson 0-1, Traylor 0-3. TOTALS: 5-14.
Jackson: Chapman 0-1, Hamilton 3-10, Taylor 0-1, Duckworth 0-1. TOTALS: 3-13.
REBOUNDS
Plainview: Hope 7, Team 5. TOTALS: 17 (4 offensive, 13 defensive).
Jackson: Chapman 8, Duckworth 6. TOTALS: 25 (9 offensive, 16 defensive).
POINTS
In the paint: Jackson 28-21.
Off turnovers: Plainview 21-15.
Second chance: Jackson 7-0.
Fast break: Plainview 11-6.
Bench: 8-2.
Plainview 3 10 18 11 — 42
Jackson 9 17 8 10 — 44
