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Weathering the Storm: Madison holds off Lee for region title

Photo by John Berry

Madison County celebrated not once, but twice Saturday night during the Mountaineers’ 59-57 victory over R.E. Lee and according to Madison senior Dre Twyman, that’s better than just once.

 

“Definitely better,” Twyman said. “Definitely.”

 

The Mountaineers’ first celebration came when time seemed to run out on the Leemen the first time. After an errant shot at the buzzer, Gaines Swink grabbed a rebound and held it, waiting for a foul by Lee or for time to expire. The buzzer sounded as he was fouled, setting off a wild, spontaneous outburst on the court led by Twyman with Madison’s throng of traveling fans going crazy. But the officials convened and decided to put seven tenths of a second back on the clock and have Swink shoot free throws.

 

Swink missed the first and then intentionally missed the second. No time went off the clock though before Lee got awarded a timeout, setting up a final play.

 

“We just had to stay together in the last moment,” said Madison County’s Isiah Smith. “We just had to stay together in the last moment, execute and not let them get off a prayer.”

 

A Madison player knocked away a pass toward midcourt and the second and final celebration started as Madison sewed up the Region 2A East title and in turn the top seed out of the region in the Group 2A state quarterfinals.

 

“We really wanted it more and my teammates just did an awesome job stopping them, getting boards and getting shots,” Twyman said.

 

While Madison was already assured of a berth in the state quarterfinals next week where they’ll now play Chatham Friday at James Madison at 2:30 p.m. at James Madison, they played more like their season was on the line. It was a physical, emotional clash between the two squads and afterwards it was clear the victory meant a lot to the Mountaineers.  

 

“Words can’t even explain, it’s unbelievable, my first region championship,” Twyman said. “These past four years have been a little rough but I’m glad this year was the year we got a chance to come out here and do something great.”

 

Lee played like its season was on the line too, jumping out to a 10-3 lead out of the gate. Madison didn’t panic though, matching that initial spurt with an 8-0 run and trailed just 21-18 at the end of the first quarter.

 

“We’ve got to overcome that but you’ve got to understand the stakes are high,” said Lee coach Jarrett Hatcher. “Madison gets a lot of credit and the good thing is we’re still alive.”

 

Smith was the key catalyst for the Mountaineers as per usual, scoring 20 points and coming up with several critical steals. He had an explosive 15 first half points for Madison, including four in the final seconds of the half. That’s when he hit two free throws, wheeled around to midcourt and pickpocketed Valley player of the year Darius George, a Marshall University signee. Smith didn’t rush a shot as he reversed course and headed back to the Madison basket, attacking the rim for a tough lay-up and a 36-34 Madison lead at the break. His leadership and even-keeled nature is a big reason Madison didn’t panic when they went down early.

 

“All year long we’ve been in tough games and it got us a lot of experience,” Smith said.

 

The game continued its nip-and-tuck style in the second half, with neither team able to gain a commanding lead. Smith kept making big plays, feeding Kobi Alexander with a no-look pass at the end of the third quarter for an uncontested lay-in. As the game wore on, Smith drew more and more of Lee’s attention, allowing Swink to score 11 of his 21 after the break. Smith also went 12-for-16 at the line, assuring that fouling the savvy point guard wasn’t an effective strategy for Lee.

 

George finished with 14 points to lead the Leemen while James Vaughn had 12 and Jayden Williams checked in with 11. Emmanuel Johnson chipped in 10.

 

Madison scored just two field goals in the fourth quarter as the game slowed down, a Swink 3-pointer and a Twyman bucket, with seven made free throws accounting for the rest of the offense. Mostly the Mountaineers just kept holding on and answering R.E. Lee, and even at the end with the strange conclusion to the game, the didn’t seem particularly rattled. Smith and Swink accounted for 41 of the Mountaineers’ 59 points, with Twyman’s six and Kobi Alexander’s seven accounting for the bulk of the rest.

 

“This is insanely big for us, we were doubted against this team, we were the underdogs,” Swink said. “Bringing this championship back home for Madison is a very big moment.”

 

Now they’ve got a date with Chatham to start a run at another potential championship, hunting Madison’s third all-time state title as a program.

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