USC Upstate signee’s big game powers Blue Ridge boys past Keenan and into title game
Before this season, Blue Ridge High’s basketball team had never played for a state championship. Justin Bailey’s impressive fourth quarter Monday ended that streak.
The Blue Ridge senior scored 19 of his 38 points in the fourth to lead the Tigers past Keenan 52-45 in the Class 3A Upper State championship at Bob Jones University.
Blue Ridge will play Orangeburg-Wilkinson for the state title Friday at USC Aiken.
“We’re making history. We’re making history all season,” Bailey said. “Coach just said, stay down, be humble and we are reaping the benefits of it.”
The season has been one for the history books for the Tigers, which had their first 20-win season in school history to go with a region title. They also defeated traditional power Keenan, which makes deep playoff runs almost every year, to advance to the school’s first championship game.
Bailey, the Class 3A Player of the Year, has been at the forefront of the turnaround and broke down in tears as Monday’s final buzzer sounded. A few moments later, Bailey had a towel over his head as he sat with one of his teammates.
“It’s all God. All the emotions just came, everything I worked for,” Bailey said. “I don’t even know how to explain it. I just told those guys we came too far. These guys believed in me and we believed in each other since Day One.”
Early in the third quarter, it looked like the Raiders had found an answer to slow Bailey down. Keenan coach Zach Norris went to a half-court trap and held him without any points until late in the third.
Keenan stretched its one-point halftime lead to 10 in the third quarter and led 34-29 going into the fourth.
Bailey then put the Tigers on his back, scoring 19 points in the final quarter, including 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.
Trailing 41-39, Keenan had a chance to tie but turned it over. On the next possession, Bailey hit two free throws to make it 43-39 with 1:07 left.
Keenan missed a 3-pointer on its next possession and the Tigers never looked back.
“He is a good kid and he could play, and I am not going to take anything from him,” Norris said. “He did a wonderful job and got where he needed to be on the court. He put us in situations where we had to kind of foul. But I thought we put them in situations, too, but we couldn’t get a call.
“But that is how the ball bounces. We will be back next year.”
Norris also thought his team might have rushed shots in the fourth quarter and played like they did when they were struggling before Christmas break.
The Raiders’ season started with a lot of question marks but almost ended the year with a trip to the state finals. Keenan lost star guard Jazian Gortman in the summer when he opted to skip his senior season and play professionally with Overtime Elite.
Keenan struggled early in the season to a 7-10 record before blowing through Region 4-3A play and knocking off defending state champion Seneca in the third round of the playoffs.
Chrisean Oree led Keenan with 16 points and Semajeh Echols added 13.
“A lot of people counted us out early in the season, and I think we showed them that Keenan is still here,” Norris said. “We just had a learning experience for some of the younger guys blending in with the older ones.
“I’m really proud of them for the way they fought back tonight and through the season.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 9:36 PM.
