By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
There was plenty of debate that surrounded the decisive play, but it was the events that led up to that moment that Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks coach Allen Gainer pointed at in his team's 63-62 home court loss to the Bishop State Wildcats Monday.
With the game deadlocked at 62-62 and time about to expire, JDCC's Lyndon Butler tried to snatch the ball away from Bishop State's Larry Hill from just behind the three-point line.
Contact was made with the ball still in Hill's hand, but officials awarded Hill three free throws. Hill had the first two attempts rattle off the rim, but he drained the last to give the Wildcats (11-7 overall and 3-2 in the Alabama Community College Conference south division) the win.
While the play that led to Hill's winning free throw was the one most people talked about, there were other big items that led to the Warhawks downfall.
Over the last minute JDCC had a key turnover, failed to block out on an offensive rebound that led to a go-ahead bucket for the Wildcats and missed a free throw with 22 seconds left that would have given the Warhawks (7-11 overall and 3-4 in the ACCC south) the lead.
JDCC dug a huge hole in the first half when it hit just six of 25 shots (24 percent) and committed 14 turnovers. Bishop State, which never trailed in the first half, got off to a 19-10 lead over the first 10 minutes thanks to four field goals by Hill.
The Wildcats later stretched that lead to 28-16 on a field goal by Kelvin Drakes with four minutes left in he first half and still had a double-digit advantage of 32-22 at halftime.
Arthur Richardson did everything he could to bring the Warhawks back in the second half. Richardson, who already had 10 points in the first half, nailed a three-pointer and two other field goals in the first four minutes of the second half to cut the Wildcats' advantage to 37-32.
Richardson, who finished with a game high 28 points, had an even better stretch midway through the second half when he buried three three-pointers and a pair of free throws that trimmed Bishop State's lead to just 50-49 with 7:24 left.
Richardson also had a hand when the Warhawks took their first lead of the game a minute later when his assist to Terren Spann gave JDCC a 51-50 lead.
With the game deadlocked at 55-55 with five minutes left, JDCC got a pair of free throws by Spann and a three-pointer by Jairus Jackson to take its biggest lead of the game at 60-55 with 4:17 left.
The Warhawks did not though. Barry Coleman had three free throws and a bucket that pulled Bishop State to within 61-60 with 2:39 left.
Perhaps the biggest play down the stretch came in the final minute with JDCC still up by that 61-60 margin. Coleman came up with a huge offensive rebound with 30 seconds left and that resulted in a bucket by Hill with 25 seconds left that put Bishop State up 62-61.
Jackson had an opportunity to put JDCC back in front three seconds later when he was fouled, but he only managed to hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 62-62.
The Warhawks host Chattahoochee Valley Saturday at 3 p.m.
At JDCC
Bishop State 32 31 - 63
JDCC 22 40 - 62
BISHOP STATE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Hill 7-1-1-18; Coleman 5-1-3-16; Owens 3-0-3-9; Brown 4-0-0-8; Drakes 3-0-0-6; Pace 1-1-0-5; Williams 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 23-3-8-63)
JDCC (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Richardson 4-5-5-28; Jackson 2-2-3-13; Wilson 4-0-2-10; Cleveland 1-0-2-4; Spann 1-0-2-4; McMullen 1-0-0-2; Butler 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 13-7-15-62)