Thursday March 28th, 2024 3:41PM

(VIDEO) Basketball semifinals: Red Elephants secure first championship game berth since 2013

By Jeff Hart Sports Reporter

CARROLLTON — Gainesville’s Class 6A semifinal showdown with Heritage-Conyers at the University of West Georgia gym Saturday afternoon is not going to go down as an instant classic for sure.

There were 64 fouls, including four technical fouls, 85 free throws, and 40 combined turnovers. A disjointed third quarter, that at one stretch saw eight stoppages in a 33-second span, also did not help the pair of run-and-gun style squads get into any kind of an offensive flow.

But when the dust settled, the Red Elephants had navigated a series of potholes for a 102-86 victory over the Patriots to secure their first championship game berth since 2013.

Gainesville will take a 21-game win streak into the Class 6A finals. The Red Elephants (24-6) now will get a chance at redemption. Langston Hughes whipped Jonesboro 69-49 in the other semifinal and the two teams' will meet in next Friday’s 8 p.m. season finale at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion.

Hughes knocked out the Red Elephants in last year's quarterfinals. Gainesville also will be seeking its first state title since 1984.

It had to be a sweet feeling for Gainesville coach Benjie Wood, who had taken two Johnson girls teams to the semifinals in 2005 and 2006 and two North Hall boys teams in 2010 and 2013 only to come away empty-handed each time. However, he took little to no credit for finally breaking through the semifinal barrier.

“It feels nice. But all the credit goes to the kids,” he said afterwards. “We’ve got a lot of good players, but they all bought into sacrificing ‘me’ for ‘we.’ They all believe in the team concepts we’ve been preaching.”

The Red Elephants, who came into the semifinals demolishing playoff opposition by 35 points per game, trailed just once, at 3-2 after a three-point play by the Patriots’ Austin Long less than a minute into the game. They then unleashed a defensive tidal wave, turning six Heritage turnovers, including four steals, into 10 points over a two-minute stretch for a 16-3 lead midway through the opening period.

The Patriots trimmed the lead to 22-15 with a 7-0 run to close out the first quarter and then pulled within 22-19 early in the second on another Archer three-point play. That would be as close as they would get the rest of the game.

Gainesville exploded for a 27-8 run to race out to a 49-27 lead as six different players scored 15 more points off seven more Heritage turnovers. Rafael Rubel and Brent Kelly drove the offensive machine with a series of driving layups as the pair of shifty guards combined for 21 points in the half.

The Red Elephants shot a blistering 81 percent in the second quarter and 64 percent for the first half. They held the Patriots to just 8-of-27 shooting (29 percent) for the first half.

“Defense travels,” Wood said. “You don’t have to worry too much about rebounding or shooting whenever you play defense. I thought we did an outstanding job in the second quarter.”

The third quarter was a sloppy mess as both teams were whistled for a combined four technical fouls and the period took more than 30 minutes of real time to finish. Gainesville’s KJ Buffen fouled out in the quarter with 1:39 left finishing with just 8 points and 3 rebounds.

The Patriots used the wild quarter to chip away at the free throw line and then continued to inch closer in the fourth quarter getting a 3-pointer from Archer to cut the lead to 88-80 with 2:51 left capping a 50-35 spurt.

“There was no flow to the game,” Wood said. “I’m proud of the guys for persevering, for fighting through that and doing what we do.”

But the Red Elephants did not let the Patriots through the door like last year’s disappointing quarterfinal loss to Hughes when they missed eight free throws in a pivotal fourth quarter. Xavier Bledson made sure of that hitting 12-of-13 free throws in the second half and scored eight of the team’s final 12 points.

“I was just in the right spot at the right time, and my teammates got me the ball,” Bledson said.

Despite the milestone win for the current crop of Red Elephants, the group as a whole had a very relaxed, business-like appearance about them as they exited the locker room.

Bledson said the painful memory of last year’s playoff loss has helped drive them during the 2018 playoffs.

“We didn’t want to have the same memory. It brought us closer together, and we play harder because of it,” he said.

Rubel finished with 22 points to lead Gainesville. Bledson finished with 18, 16 from the free throw line, and Jarrel Rosser (16), Jarred Rosser (13), and Kujuan Hale (10) all finished in double-figures for the Red Elephants. Hale was cut over his right eye during the first half and played just 11 minutes.

Archer led all scorers with 30 points for Heritage (17-9). Trelan Scott finished with 14 points and Josh Guilford had 13 for the Patriots.

NOTES: The Red Elephants are the highest scoring team in the GHSA playoffs, all classifications, averaging 94.5 ppg through the first four rounds. They have scored 213 points in their last two wins. ... Heritage was in the its first semifinals since 1985. ... The victory was just the second semifinal win (2013) for Gainesville in its last nine tries since winning the 1983 and 1984 Class 3A state titles.

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