MACON – When it came down to crunch time in the Class 6A championship game, Wheeler coach Larry Thompson felt good knowing that Colben Landrew was on his side.
The highly regarded junior forward scored 19 points, including the go-ahead basket with 2:12 remaining, and made 6 of 6 free throws in the final two minutes to help the Wildcats hold off Newton for a 61-56 victory on Saturday at the Macon Coliseum.
“It was defense,” Landrew said. “We got a couple steals and I made six free throws and those were big, because we won by five.”
Thompson said, “He’s been our best free throw shooter all year. He’s shooting about 85%, so when I saw him up there I think everybody kind of calmed down.”
Wheeler was the heavy favorite entering the game. The Wildcats eliminated defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Grayson last week. Newton, their opponent in the final, had lost three times to Grayson during the season.
It looked good for Wheeler early. The Wildcats were on the brink of throwing a knockout punch in the first half. Kevin Savage III made two 3-pointers and Mansu McClain canned another and the Wildcats led 29-15 at 7:04 in the second quarter.
But Newton kept hanging around and trailed just 34-30 at the break when Zach Harden heaved in a halfcourt shot at the buzzer, an indication the Rams weren’t going to go away.
Newton eventually caught up when Harden was fouled on a snowbird and made free throw to tie the score 37-37 at 5:00 in the third quarter. The lead went back and forth and Newton held a one-point lead until Landrew and the Wheeler defense took over in the final three minutes.
“Everybody thought we were going to lose,” Landrew said. “It was a good game and we went through adversity. We knocked down free throws and were able to lock it down as a team.”
Thompson said, “We turned our attention to getting defensive stops. We couldn’t rebound the ball at all today; those guys were getting second and third opportunities. Maybe we did a little better job down the stretch.”
Wheeler (29-3) also got 19 points from Savage, nine points from Tylis Jordan and eight points from McClain. The Wildcats finished the season with 21 consecutive win.
Newton (21-10) was led by Harden, who had 26 points and seven rebounds, and Jordan Green, who scored 16.
The win was the fourth title at Wheeler for Thompson, who also won two at Greenforest Academy. The other four titles for the Wildcats came under Doug Lipscomb.
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