By SHANNON J. ALLEN The Reporter
Photo by Brandon K. Pierce
JACKSONVILLE — For the first time in 22 years, the Geraldine Bulldogs made sure purple reigns in the boys Northeast Regional.
The No. 5 Bulldogs toppled No. 3 Plainview 53-49 in overtime in a tough, physical and emotional battle in the Class 3A finals Thursday, Feb. 22 at Jacksonville State’s Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The sixth meeting of the season between the Area 14 rivals marked the first in series history in the Elite Eight. Geraldine (24-7) won its first regional title since 2002 by dethroning the two-time defending State champion Bears (26-8), who are reclassifying to 4A next year.
Geraldine advances to the 3A State Tournament in Birmingham, where it faces No. 9 Hillcrest-Evergreen in the semifinals Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. in the BJCC Legacy Arena. The winner meets the No. 4 Midfield-No. 1 Sumter Central survivor in the finals Friday, March 1 at 2:15 p.m.
GHS and Plainview split the season series in 2023-24, with all three of the Bulldogs’ victories coming in overtime.
“Wow. Unbelievable,” Geraldine head coach Jeremy Smith said. “Who would’ve expected anything else with what we’ve been through with them this year? I think we’ve played them about 15 times in the last three years, and that’s a season’s worth of games against the same opponent.
“Like I said [after the semifinals], we knew them and it was going to come down to Jimmies and Joes, and luckily, we made enough plays to pull it out.”
Thursday’s matchup featured eight ties and eight lead changes. The largest lead for either team was six points.
The contest was tied 15-15 after a quarter and 25-25 at halftime. The Bulldogs were in front 35-33 at the third-quarter break.
Geraldine senior guard Carlos Mann finished with a career-high 13 points, and he added four rebounds and two steals. With the game tied 39-39, he scored six straight points to give the Bulldogs a 45-39 lead with 2:17 left in the fourth period.
“Where Carlos thrives is on the defensive end, and he was able to turn that into some offense and just gave us a huge spark right there,” Smith said.
“I told the boys you never know when your time is going to be called. You never know what role you’re going to have to play … when you’re going to have to come make a free throw, when you’re going to have to go guard somebody. That’s a prime example of that today.”
The Bears responded to Mann’s run by fighting back to force overtime.
Sawyer Wilborn hit a pair of free throws with 1:18 on the clock, and Owen Wilborn’s layup trimmed it to 45-43 with 46 seconds to go. Sawyer Wilborn’s steal at the 25-second mark led to Landon White’s tying layup with seven seconds remaining.
Redick Smith’s long 3-pointer from in front of Geraldine’s bench bounced off the rim at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
Regional most valuable player Jaxon Colvin passed to Lucas Bryant in the paint, and he sank a layup to put the Bulldogs ahead 47-45 with 2:43 left.
A 3 by Plainview’s Cy Traylor went in and out, and Smith cleared the rebound. The Bears fouled Mann at the 2:04 mark, and he drained two free throws to make it 49-45.
Mann rebounded a missed jumper by Sawyer Wilborn, and Plainview fouled Connor Johnson. His free throw gave GHS a 50-45 cushion with 1:33 to go.
A technical foul against the Bulldogs sent Plainview’s Luke Griggs to the line, and his two free throws trimmed it to 50-47. Colvin made a steal on the Bears’ possession following the technical, and he converted 1-of-2 free throws with 54.4 seconds left.
Plainview missed two shots, including a 3, before Smith came up with a steal and was fouled. His free throw extended Geraldine’s lead to 52-47 with 20.4 seconds remaining.
Owen Wilborn got to the foul line with 9.2 seconds to go, and his free throws sliced it to 52-49.
Smith then missed a pair of free throws with 7.8 seconds to play, but Colvin blocked Griggs’ 3. Bryant’s free throw sealed the Bulldogs’ historic victory.
“You have to give Plainview credit,” Jeremy Smith said. “They’re unbelievable. They’ve won four out of six [State titles] for a reason. Somebody was going to have to beat them — they weren’t just going to give it to us.
“We felt like we left something down here last year, and we told them at halftime you’ve got to go get it.”
Geraldine outrebounded Plainview 42-26 and shot 40 percent from the field to Plainview’s 32 percent. The Bears made 7-of-27 3-pointers to Geraldine’s 3-of-14.
The Bulldogs finished 14-of-23 from the free-throw line while the Bears went 10-of-14.
Colvin led Geraldine with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Johnson collected 12 points and seven boards, and Smith had eight points and nine rebounds.
Bryant contributed five points and six boards, and Jayse Cook scored one.
Plainview’s Owen Wilborn scored a game-best 18 points. Griggs hit four treys and netted 14 points, and White collected 12 points and nine rebounds.
Grant Nickelson scored three and Sawyer Wilborn two. Traylor closed with five boards, four assists and two steals.
Joining Colvin on the All-Regional Tournament Team were Johnson, Mann, Smith, Griggs, White and Owen Wilborn.
“I’ve been praying this since I was young,” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘God, you know, I just want to make the Final Four one day, one day,’ and I guess the Lord has His plans. I’m very grateful we were able to get the opportunity we got today. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other guys or any other coaches.”
Cale Black completed his first season as Plainview’s head coach. He served as an assistant coach on the Bears’ State championship squads in 2018 and 2019.
“One of those games … the same as we’ve had with them most of the time,” Black said.
“Just a battle there and another victory for them in overtime. The three times they’ve beaten us have been in overtime, double overtime and overtime today.
“I was just telling the kids in the fourth quarter toward the end we were down, and they showed a lot of fight, a lot of grit there to come back. I thought in overtime we might be able to carry some momentum and go through there, but give Geraldine credit. They battled and were able to come out on top.”
