Walnut Grove wins war with Madison County for Region Championship

Battle-tested Warriors survive a potential game-winning 3-point attempt in the final seconds

GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA – In one of Georgia’s most competitive regions, the Region 8-AAAA Championship game between Madison County and Walnut Grove expectedly came down to the last shot…and the one after that.

Inbounding the ball with 2.6 seconds left, Madison County got the shot they wanted, going for the win at the buzzer with a three-point attempt right next to its bench, but the shot ricocheted first off the backboard, then the edge of the rim. 

When it returned to earth, the shot fell right to Chris Rhodes, whose put-back shot went in, but not nearly in time as the 2.6 seconds had elapsed and buzzer sounded by the time the ball arrived at the Madison County big man. 

With the initial miss, Walnut Grove completed its fourth quarter comeback and claimed the Region title, 55-53.

Walnut Grove players admire their regional championship trophy after the comeback win over Madison County in the final / Photo by Jake Cantrell

For Walnut Grove head coach William Witherspoon, he was simply trying to stay calm on the sidelines and in the team’s huddle and give his players a chance to do what he knew they could: go win the game.

“I was just trying to stay composed for the guys as the leader, giving a calm voice and making sure I relay the instructions that I want to relay so that everyone understands and so that we’re all on the same page,” Witherspoon said. “That was the message down the stretch, whatever defense we’re in, whatever we’re running offensively, let’s just make sure that we’re all on the same page and don’t have someone freestyling or doing something different. Just making sure we’re all in sync.”

In an otherwise wild game, Witherspoon’s squad never looked more in sync and composed than on its final possession, where sophomore point guard Marcus Smith scored the game’s final bucket to break the tie and put the Warriors ahead for good. 

After a timeout with 34.3 seconds left, Walnut Grove ran the shot clock down under 20 seconds before Smith raced by his defenders en route to the basket for what turned out to be the game-winning layup. Witherspoon said he felt confident in his team to execute in that situation.

“He's been our best player all year long,” he said. “I wanted to put the ball in his hands and give him an opportunity to make a play and he made it. I love him and he’s only going to get better, he’s just a sophomore.”

After taking an early lead in the first quarter, Walnut Grove managed to hold a slim 32-29 lead heading into halftime after a back-and-forth first half. However a big third quarter from Madison County saw the Red Raiders take the lead almost instantly, before building up to a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter. This proved Witherspoon’s main message to his team to be true.

“That’s a really good team and they’ve been in a lot of tightly contested battles,” he said. “The one thing I told our guys going into this game was they’re not going to beat themselves, you’re going to have to beat them.” 

And his squad did beat them, specifically in the fourth quarter where the Warriors held Madison to only five points, furiously coming back with an 8-0 run to take a one-point lead at 51-50 with about three minutes left to play. Then the scoring stopped.

Marcus Smith explodes to the basket with a layup to take a 55-53 lead that turned out to be the game-winning score. Smith had a game-high 22 points on the night / Photo by Jake Cantrell

Both teams buckled down their defenses, not allowing any quality shots, heading into the final minute of the game. Smith finally broke the scoring drought with a steal and fast-break score to put the Warriors up three. Madison responded immediately with a three to time the game with 34 seconds left. From there, Witherspoon set up the winning play that Smith executed to score his game-high 22nd point of the game and clinch the title for Walnut Grove.

Witherspoon said his team’s experience from a difficult schedule helped his team complete the comeback and hopes they can keep this momentum rolling into the state tournament, where they’ll now host a first round game.

“I thought they were phenomenal,” he said. “We played a really tough schedule this year and because of that, our record wasn’t glorious. It didn’t look great, but we were battle tested. We played a lot of really good teams in every classification and we went toe-to-toe with a lot of them. Ultimately it prepared us for this little run that we’ve been on. Hopefully we’ll carry this momentum into the state tournament and see what happens.”

Walnut Grove combined Smith’s 22-point performance with a 21-point game from senior Nick Tyre, who helped the Warriors stay alive early in the game with 13 first-half points.

“He’s had ebbs and flows with his scoring throughout the year but he really got hot here for the region tournament,” Witherspoon said. “I’m just so proud of him. He never wavered in his preparation and his work. I tell guys all the time, ‘the work’s going to show’ and he’d come in the morning and get up shots. He’d stay after practice, get his form shooting in and get his shots up and I was just really happy for him to see the ball go in the basket. I’m proud of those guys.”

With the win, Walnut Grove claimed the tournament championship over its 11-team region, objectively one of the hardest in the state to win based on the sheer number of teams. Witherspoon said he feels the resilience his team has shown is something to be proud of and could carry them even further on this run.

“It’s a war of endurance. There’s a lot of ebbs and flows, trials and tribulations,” he said. “In the second game of the year, we lost arguably our best player to a broken leg and he hasn’t been able to play. We went through a stretch where we lost five games in a row and at our lowest point, the guys never waivered. I’m so proud of them for continuing to be resilient and battle through all the adversity and stuff that they faced. Now they’re champions and that’s something no one can take away from them.”

Walnut Grove heads into the state tournament as the No. 1 seed representing the region and getting to host its first round game, which Witherspoon is excited about.

“I think we’ll be confident and the good thing about being the one seed is you get to be in your familiar surroundings at home,” he said. “Being able to host a first round state game, we had a good crowd that traveled but I think it’ll be rocking at home. I look forward to being able to play in front of our home crowd on Wednesday.”

Madison County comes out of the region as the No. 2 seed and will also host its first round game. North Oconee edged out first-year program Seckinger High School in the region’s third place game, 52-50 to claim the No. 3 seed while Seckinger will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed.

Photo by Jake Cantrell

Photo by Jake Cantrell

Photo by Jake Cantrell

Photo by Jake Cantrell

Photo by Jake Cantrell

Photo by Jake Cantrell

Photo by Jake Cantrell