Falcons fall short: Wilson tops AC Flora to win 4A boys basketball state title
Carlos Powell squatted at the Wilson bench with a yellow towel in his hands as the final seconds ticked down in Saturday’s Class 4A boys championship game.
Powell, the former South Carolina basketball standout, wouldn’t stay there long as he jumped up, started dancing and celebrating the Tigers’ 52-43 win over A.C. Flora at the USC Aiken Convocation Center.
It’s the Tigers’ second state championship, with the other coming in 2007. The win comes in Powell’s second season at his alma mater.
“A lot of people don’t know the amount of work that we put in to get where we are today,” Powell said. “Just to win a state championship after going through such hard times and hearing all the little things. It is refreshing. What can they say now.”
Powell played at West Florence High before transferring to Wilson his senior season in 2001. The Tigers lost in the state semifinals in Powell’s senior season to Keenan.
Powell went on to star at the University of South Carolina and played more than a decade professionally overseas. But after his playing career ended, Powell got into coaching and was an assistant for a season on Ridge View’s 2020 Class 4A championship team before taking the job at Wilson.
The Tigers played just seven games last season because of COVID, going 4-3 and missing the playoffs. But this year, Wilson climbed as high as No. 2 in SC Coaches poll and is on top of Class 4A.
“I pour my heart into those kids and my coaches did, too. It is a beautiful thing to watch,” Powell said as he fought back tears. “And just all the things I hear people say. But I know three things you got to say. Put respect on Wilson, you got to put respect on my players and you got to put some respect on me.”
This was the third meeting in the playoffs between the teams since 2017. The Tigers won the previous two games, including the 2017 Lower State championship in Florence, a few miles from Wilson’s campus.
The USC Aiken Convocation Center felt like a Tigers home game at times Saturday as Wilson’s purple and gold-clad fans started filling the arena some two hours before tip-off.
Wilson gave its fans plenty to cheer about early on as it jumped out to a 15-6 lead after the first quarter. The Tigers hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter, three by Javon Brown, who finished with a team-high 20 points.
The Falcons withstood Wilson’s first spurt, and CP Parker’s layup tied it at 20-20 with 1:19 left in the first half.
Wilson started the second half like the first and led 32-23 before the Falcons answered with a 6-0 run over the final 2:35 of the quarter to pull within 32-29. But Brown hit a 3-pointer to begin the fourth quarter and the Falcons never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
Parker led Flora with 10 points. Class 4A Player of the Year Collin Murray-Boyles was held to four points. Murray-Boyles was in foul trouble and was battling a foot injury suffered in the third round against South Pointe, according to coach Joshua Staley.
This was AC Flora’s third state championship appearance since Staley took over the program in 2015. AC Flora won the championship in 2016.
“We fought hard. We could never get to a rhythm,” Staley said. “A lot of that had to do with Wilson. A lot of that had to do with Coach Powell. He had his guys ready prepared to play. Congratulations to Wilson
“We got a tough group and my kids got a lot of character, and I wanted to make sure we kept our character after the game. That is part of growth. We got to be able to accept the bad and the good. We got to get back to work. “
W: Zandae Butler 15, Dominick Jones 10, Jevon Brown 20, Lytch 1, Green 5, Burgess 1.
ACF: Wallace 7, Green 5, CP Parker 10, Murray-Boyles 4, Wiley 7, McDaniel 8, Johnson 2.
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 9:58 PM.
