Macon – The Houston County Sharks won another Georgia AAASP Wheelchair basketball title on Saturday, but they had to work harder for this one.
The Sharks overcame a 12-point third-period deficit to outlast the Clayton Eagles 37-34 at the Macon Coliseum. It was the fourth straight year that Houston County has prevailed and marked their 12th title in the last 13 seasons.
The young Clayton team, which featured seven first-year players, raced to an 18-8 lead and were up 24-16 at halftime. It was enough to spark coach Jeffrey Martin to have a serious halftime discussion.”
“The beginning of that first half was rough,” Martin said. “For some reason the ball wasn’t falling. They weren’t playing their game and they were playing frustrated. I tell my players to play and have fun with it, but they weren’t. So, they got it together.”
The Sharks came back from the break and scored 12 unanswered points, with the tying basket coming from Dalton Crosby and the go-ahead bucket from Laila Kindness.
Houston County was able to stretch its lead to nine points at 37-28 early in the sixth period and withstood a late charge to claim another title.
Anthony Cuti, one of seven players who returned from the 2024 championship team, scored 15 points to lead Houston County. Crosby scored 10 and Kindness scored six.
Clayton was led by Andrew Dotson with 10 points and Anquan Smith added eight.
“I don’t know what was wrong with the beginning but I’m just happy they got back in,” Martin said.
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