James Lewis scored 21 points and fueled a second-half comeback, leading Westlake to a 68-58 overtime victory against Pebblebrook on Saturday in a Class AAAAAA state championship game thriller at the Macon Centreplex.
It’s the third state title for Westlake and first since 2002. It was the fourth meeting this season between the two Region 3-AAAAAA rivals. Westlake won them all, including a 22-point blowout just weeks ago. Saturday’s win wasn’t nearly as easy.
Pebblebrook led by as many as 11 in the third quarter, before Lewis rallied the Lions. The sophomore guard hit a 3-pointer and converted a traditional three-point play, helping the Lions trim the deficit to three, heading into the fourth quarter.
Westlake tied the game three minutes into the fourth quarter on an alley-oop to Ronald Bell and then took its first lead since the first quarter on jumper from Chuma Okeke.
The Lions were up 53-48 with 2:22 to play, before Pebblebrook's Dwight Murray connected on a 3-pointer from the corner. Pebblebrook point guard Jarred Harper then tied the game with a deep 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play. Harper hit the big shot in front of his future college coach, Auburn's Bruce Pearl, who was sitting courtside.
Collin Sexton finished with 18 points to lead the Falcons, and Harper finished with 15 points.
Westlake called timeout with 8.1 seconds to play, but turned it over on its final possession of regulation, sending the game to overtime, tied 58-58.
Westlake won the tip and held the ball on the perimeter for three minutes, before Okeke hit a spinning layup to put the Lions up two. Harper missed a contested layup on the Falcons’ ensuing possession, and Daniel Lewis got free for a breakaway layup and drew a two-shot intentional foul with 27.6 seconds to play. Lewis hit both free throws putting Westlake up four.
Daniel Lewis finished with 14 points, and Okeke added 13 points.
“It cuts down on the chance of error and less than can happen,” Westlake coach Darron Rogers said about his strategy to hold the ball in overtime. “In this tense situation, I wanted two or three opportunities that I could control. And if my guys played well—and I thought they did at the end—it tends to make the other team panic. I’ve used that throughout my career, because they won’t put in a shot-clock in high school. So maybe after some of this, they may consider.”
Pebblebrook did not score in overtime.
Falcons coach George Washington said if he had to do the overtime again, he may have instructed his defense to pressure the Lions a little earlier, but, overall, he had little regrets about his team’s performance.
“They just executed a little better than we did down the stretch,” Washington said. “But our kids gave great effort.”
Washington employed a three-two zone, a wrinkle put in for the championship game. It worked early on.
Westlake jumped out to a 13-4 lead four minutes into the game, but lost its shooting touch and scored just two points over the next seven minutes. Pebblebrook took advantage and grabbed the lead on a floater in the lane by Sexton early in the second quarter. The Falcons’ lead grew to 10 on a 3-pointer by Dwight Murray. Pebblebrook went into halftime up 32-22.
The game was played under some controversy. The stanchions that support the baskets were positioned a foot farther back off the baseline, meaning free throws were attempted from 16 feet, compared than the normal 15 feet. There was also less room for players to navigate under the basket along the baseline.
The game also was interrupted early in the first quarter, when a fan on his cell phone wandered onto the court, seemingly oblivious that game was being played. He made nearly all the way down the length of the court, before security grabbed him and escorted him off the court.
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