By Josh Bean | For the AHSAA
Gadsden City’s first trip to the state semifinals ended just shy of a victory.
Paul W. Bryant High School boys’ basketball coach Shon Peck-Love called timeout with less than a minute to go and his team trailing by on in the Stampede’s Class 6A State Basketball Championships semifinal battle with Gadsden City Wednesday at the BJCC Legacy Arena.
Peck-Love had watched the Stampede’s double-digit lead evaporate as Gadsden City made five 3-pointers in the final 6:03. However, the veteran coach knew his team held a tremendous size advantage with 6-foot-5 senior King Larkin and 6-foot-8 sophomore Ty’Javian Byrd.
With time running out, Peck-Love drew up a play to get the ball to Larkin, who scored the game-winner on a power move along the baseline.Larkin said he felt anxiety walking out of the huddle, knowing the play called for him to make a game-winning play.
“I said, ‘Just throw it up and good luck,’” he said. “I knew it was going in.”
Larkin finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Byrd added eight points and four
blocked shots. Javian Williams filled the stat sheet with eight points, three assists and two steals.
The Stampede (26-7) advances to play Pinson Valley in Saturday’s championship game. Pinson Valley defeated McGill-Toolen 56-37 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
Paul W. Bryant seemed to break open a close game in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter as Larkin’s three-point play with 7:03 to go staked the Stamped to a 39-28 lead.
The Stampede’s zone defense neutralized Gadsden City and forced the Titans (22-12) to settle for jump shots.
“They stagnated us a lot with their zone,” Gadsden City coach Raphael Graves said.
Gadsden City’s Devin Barksdale hit a 3-pointer with 6:03 to go to make it 39-33. The Titans’ Keshawn Curry made two more 3-pointers, and Jedidiah Wynn added another. Barksdale’s 3-pointer with 1:19 left gave the Titans a 49-48 lead.
Larkin then scored the go-ahead bucket, and the teams traded possessions until Gadsden City called timeout after a Barksdale steal with 11.4 seconds to go.
On the final possession, the Stampede double-teamed Barksdale, who fired a crosscourt pass to Wynn, whose 3-pointer rimmed out.
Peck-Love referred to Barksdale when he said his instructions for the last play were to let “anybody but him” take the final shot.
Paul W. Bryant out-rebounded the Titans 29-14 and made 15-of-20 free throws. Gadsden City went to the line only once. Larkin made 9-of-13 free throws.
“The difference in the game was the free throws,” Graves said.
The Stampede advance to the championship round for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2017 and 2018, when they won 2017 title and finished runner-up in 2018. Gadsden City was making its first trip to the state semifinals and was chasing its first basketball state title.Barksdale led Gadsden City with 13 points, and Curry added 11 points and four rebounds. Kai Frankin and Jakobi Sharp scored eight points each.
Championship games in Classes 2A, 3A and 4A are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28, and the state tournament concludes on Saturday, March 1 with title games in Classes 5A, 6A and 7A.
All championship games will be live streamed over the NFHS Network and televised live over the Alabama Public Television network with WOTM TV producing the contests. All semifinal games are being live streamed over the NFHS Network as well.
The AHSAA Radio Network is airing live broadcasts of all semifinal and championship games over its radio and internet audio network.
