Summerville wins AAAA boys' basketball titleBy Philip M. Bowman (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Summerville 50, Spartanburg 48 COLUMBIA — The Summerville Green Wave boys' basketball team won its first Class AAAA state championship on Friday night with a 50-48 victory over Spartanburg. The game featured a 25-point performance by Summerville's A.J. Green, some great 3-point shooting by Spartanburg's Raquentin Miller and a 60-foot desperation shot by the Vikings' Zycorrian Robinson at the final buzzer that rattled around and went in. But officials ruled the shot did not count because Robinson got the shot off after the buzzer sounded. Photo GallerySummerville vs Spartanburg Summerville defeats Spartanburg for the boys' Class AAAA state basketball championship in Columbia.
Summerville players had tears in their eyes not knowing if they won or lost as the officials huddled. After a short discussion, an official walked across the court and waved off the shot. The sorrow turned into celebration as the Green Wave won the first basketball championship in the school's long history. "It was kind of a crazy end to a crazy year," said Summerville coach Tee Newman, whose team finished with a 25-3 record with the victory in front of approximately 6,000 fans at the Colonial Center. "Coach (Louis) Mulkey was looking down on that, that ball being just after the horn. That (No.) 32 is a great player. I hate that for them, but we've been working hard for this, too, and we're the state champs. My heart sank a lot when that shot went that went in, but I feel better now. We're state champs." Spartanburg coach Doug Lowe would not comment after the game, but chased down High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton to complain. With 22 seconds left in the game, Summerville sophomore Bruce Haynes scored inside and was fouled on the play. Haynes missed the foul shot, but the Green Wave led 49-48. Branden Millhouse added a free throw with seven seconds left to make it 50-48. Haynes was fouled with 1.7 seconds left, but missed a free throw. A Spartanburg player grabbed the rebound and kicked it out to Robinson who dribbled out and drilled the shot heard around South Carolina. Pandemonium ruled as the officials conferred. When the call went in the Green Wave's favor, the Summerville players went wild. It was Green's final game of his fabulous career, and he went out a winner. He hit 8 of 13 and scored 25 points before fouling out with 1:13 left in the game. He grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots. Green scored only 11 points in last year's state championship game against Fort Mill, but came out on a roll. He hit his first two shots of the game, a pair of 3-pointers, and had 14 points in the first quarter. "We had a good team, but I think A.J. puts you over the top as far as getting to the elite level," Newman said. "We're on the map. There's no question about that when you win a state title. We had good players and A.J. Green was the difference maker. You saw how he played tonight." Green dedicated the victory to Mulkey, one of the nine Charleston firefighters who were killed in the Sofa Super Store fire last summer. "We love him so much, that's why we worked so hard," said Green who played in four state championships in his career, two in football and two in basketball. "He's like my second dad. This win was dedicated to him. It feels so good. It feels so unreal. It probably won't hit me the next day, in the morning some time. When (Robinson) took that shot, I was on my hands and knees praying to God that it wasn't good. And then when I saw that (they ruled no basket), I said yes, thank you coach Mulkey and God." Haynes and Marcus Morris both added seven points for the Green Wave. The Vikings' Miller had 15 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Robinson had 11 points and Burton Jones scored nine. Summerville: Millhouse 3, Morris 7, Galbreath 6, Pendarvis 2, Green 23, Haynes 7. Spartanburg: Miller 15, Robinson 11, Sanders 5, Jones 9, Fuller 2, Whitmire 6. Records: Summerville 25-3, Spartanburg 22-7. |
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Comments
This article has 15 comment(s)
Posted by WinslowS on March 1, 2008 at 1:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Zycorrian's buzzer shot was definitely good. That was one of the worst calls I have ever seen, and killed a miracle. The referees who made that call should be banned from refereeing permanently. It was not even questionable if the shot was good.
Posted by scwendy on March 1, 2008 at 8:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WinslowS- I can totally understand where a person could see it going either way, especially in real time, but if you slow down the video and pay attention to the red indicators around the goal, you will see them light up prior to the player getting off the shot.
I would hate to have been the official that had to make the call in real time, but thank God, the video backs him up.
Congratulations to both teams on a fantastic year!
Posted by eyeinthesky on March 1, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Channel 4 had a shot from behind the player.. you could see the ball, the player and the backboard. he had the ball in his hand when the lights around the backboard were lit.. i know yall love conspiracies, but the shot waws late...
Think about it.. it was alot to get the ball turn.. take a couple dribbles build up the power to shoot the ball 65 feet all in 1.7 seconds. Time that on your watch! 1 MISSISSIPPI 2 MISSISS ... Game over!
Both teams played well... if Summerville does not miss 3 out of 4 Free Throws in the last couple seconds....
Posted by MSC on March 1, 2008 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Not bad for a football school.
Posted by WinslowS on March 1, 2008 at 11:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Did any of you actually see this footage? An article in the Spartanburg Herald Journal claims the opposite.
"Televison cameramen gathered in their trucks to watch the footage. From their angles, it looked like the ball left Robinson's hand at the same split second that the red neon light glowed in the backboard." I was at the game, it didn't even seem that close to me.
Posted by rbe1979 on March 1, 2008 at 11:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As a fan of neither Summerville, nor Spartanburg, I have no skin in the game. From the footage I have seen on thestate.com it is too difficult to tell. I think the referee's made a tough decision, and honestly, from the video either call might have been correct. It's a shame none of the local news stations have video footage on their websites!
Nonetheless, congratulations to Summerville. A.J. Green needs to ball at Georgia as well. That kid is a player.
Posted by charleston_grown on March 1, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
calm down.....that call could have gone either way, and without video replay, you can't blame the officials. it is nearly impossible to tell exactly when the ball left his hands but it was almost simultaneous as the backboard lighting up.
Posted by WinslowS on March 1, 2008 at 10:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I saw a video clip shown on WSPA Spartanburg, my friend Tivoed the morning news. We paused at a point where the ball had left his hands, but the light on the goal was still not on. That is directed towards those who claimed the film backed up the referees, it does not. I understand that it is a hard call to make as an official, but I feel that the officials were not paying attention because they assumed the game was over, and were like "s4!t, what are we going to do, we didn't see that shot" and just gave the game to Summerville because they were leading before. Normally a miracle shot like that where you can't really tell if it was off quite on time you would give it to the team that made it.
Posted by trod1 on March 2, 2008 at 4:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have watched 3 different videos in slow frame by frame.the two side lights come on right before the two top lights come on on the back board there are four lights lights working in conjunction.its in his hand when the two sides light up and questionable as the other two light up.so in fact they are on the correct call was made.
Posted by thomasdye on March 2, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
great win
Posted by WinslowS on March 2, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
trod1 that is strange we paused a news clip and the ball is clearly out of his hands, and the light on the backboard behind him is still off..........
Posted by trod1 on March 2, 2008 at 9:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
only when the second set of four lights comes on.is it questionable .when the first two came on the side ones .its still in his hand light on hes touching it correct call.im sure
as much as you say you have looked at it you noticed all four backboard lights don't come on at the same time.i took a pic of this with my cell .but it isnt clear enough to determine if hes touching it or not video was much clearer .<a href="http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabd2.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4130/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabd2.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Posted by trod1 on March 2, 2008 at 9:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
[url=http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabd2.png][img=http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4130/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabd2.th.png][/url]
Posted by trod1 on March 2, 2008 at 9:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
sorry maybe this link will work.
http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image...
Posted by scwendy on March 4, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WinslowS, I am not sure what your issue is. I for one would never have referenced a video I had not viewed. And it supports the official's call.
There is no big conrtoversy except in a few people's minds as the video is OBJECTIVE and available for anyone to view. Watch it frame by frame if you have ANY doubts.