By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The William Osteen Gymnasium was rocking Tuesday with Fayette-Ware and Millington faithful passionately rooting for their respective teams in the District 15-3A Championship Game.
The No. 1 seed and favorite Fayette-Ware Wildcats took the best shot for the tournament host and No. 2 seeded Millington Trojans. At one point the Trojans were ahead by double figures in the third quarter 53-41.
But the Wildcats displayed championship DNA and were able to escape the title game 71-69 victors. It was evident early that the game would be close with Fayette-Ware holding an 18-17 lead after 8 minutes.
Millington senior guard BJ Gilmore kept his team in the contest hitting a pair of three-pointers in the opening period. Mr. Basketball Finalist and Wildcat senior JaSteven Walker made his presence felt with a pair of dunks that made the score 13-12 in favor of Millington.
That was an early example of Fayette-Ware being able to comeback erasing the Millington 13-6 advantage.
Millington outscored the Wildcats 16-14 in the second period to hold a 33-32 lead at the break. Then the Trojan guards under the direction of junior point guard Seth Grandberry dominated the third quarter.
Grandberry located the hot hands of Chris Barnes and Gilmore to create the 12-point lead.
Barnes hit a triple and Gilmore hit a three-pointer during that stretch.
The defense of Blake Garner, Diego Reyes and Josh Harris limited Walker during the third quarter. But the big man snapped out of his funk and scored a couple of baskets including a dunk to make the score 53-48 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats started the period on a 10-2 run to regain the lead. Jairus Terry led Fayette-Ware during that stretch of the contest. Deadlock at 58-58, Wildcat Marquis Seaberry hit a floater in the lane that made the Fayette-Ware advantage 5 points.
Now trailing 65-58, Grandberry sparked the final rally of the night with a shot in the lane. After a Reyes layup made the score 67-62, the Wildcats scored again to make the tally 69-62.
Harris came up with a timely basket for Millington and Barnes hit another triple that made the score 69-67 in the final seconds.
In desperation, the Trojans had to foul and Fayette-Ware came up with a pair of clutch free throws. Harris slammed down two points to make the score 71-69 with 1.3 seconds left. Walker fired an inbound pass down court after a timeout and the Wildcats ran out the clock for the championship.
Grandberry led all scorers with 24 points. BJ Gilmore added 18 points and Barnes dropped 14. For the winners Walker had 21 points and Terry added 14 points.
Region 8-3A FIRST ROUND
Girls on Friday February 25
1. Kirby @ 1. Fayette Ware
3. Raleigh-Egypt @ 2. Hamilton
3. Ridgeway @ 2. Millington
4. Bolton @ 1. Melrose
Boys on Saturday, February 26
4. Wooddale @ 1. Fayette Ware
3. Raleigh Egypt @ 2. Ridgeway
3. Hamilton @ 2. Millington
4. Bolton @ 1. Melrose
