Members of the Madison County boys’ hoops team find themselves in an unfamiliar – but very good — position in late February.
They’re still playing basketball.
The Red Raiders, who face Banneker Friday, will play in their first state tournament game in 13 years.
“Normally, at this time of year, they’re on to spring sports,” coach Steve Crouse said. “And we’re washing uniforms and taking inventory. But we’re still playing basketball. So we’re excited about that. We’re really excited about that.”
Third-seeded Madison County (22-6) travels to College Park to face no. 2 seed Banneker (19-8) Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Red Raiders are coming off a 60-57 victory over Clarke Central in the Region 8-AAAA consolation finals, while Banneker fell to Mays 51-49 in the Region 5-AAAA finals.
The winner moves on to face the winner of Miller Grove and Sprayberry in round two on March 2.
“Banneker is playing really well now, but hey … we beat Clarke, and we’re in the state tournament,” Crouse said. “Our kids have a lot of confidence.”
Madison County’s victory over Clarke Central Saturday came via a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Bradley Raines.
Red Raider players and coaches have pressed the rewind button on that highlight more than a few times since then.
“We watched it about four times,” Crouse said. “It’s just so fun. You’ve got to watch it three or four times just to watch all the different people’s reactions.”
But now thoughts are on Banneker.
Against the Trojans, Madison County faces a team that’s equally equipped to score in transition or operate out of its half-court offense.
“They like to get up and down the floor,” Crouse said. “They run very good half-court offense. They are a very solid basketball team. They do what they do and they do it very well.”
If Madison County is to get to round two, it must beat Banneker on its home floor. While playing on the road two hours away is an obstacle, Madison County welcomes the challenge.
“We’re going to state,” Crouse said. “That’s huge. We want to enjoy that, enjoy the trip, enjoy the journey and enjoy this process. At the same time, we don’t want to make it overwhelming ... We’ve played in other gyms. This one’s just going to be a little further away.”
REGION TOURNAMENT
CONSOLATION FINALS: Raines’ buzzer-beater stuns Glads
Madison County senior Bradley Raines has taken plenty of shots in his high school career, none bigger than his final attempt Saturday night (Feb. 20).
Raines drilled a deep three-pointer at the buzzer as Madison County (22-6) stunned Clarke Central 60-57 in the third-place game at the Region 8-AAAA tournament.
Raines, who led the Red Raiders with 24 points and 12 rebounds, said he’s never hit a game-winner in any level of competition.
“I’ve been wanting to hit a game-winning shot ever since I started playing basketball,” he said.
With the win, Madison County was able to exact revenge for its 59-54 loss to the Gladiators Jan. 29 and win the season series with Clarke Central 2-1.
“We had said if we got to play them again, we knew we weren’t going to lose,” Raines said.
Clarke Central (18-6) tied the game at 57 with when Marquis Faust hit a free throw with 4.3 seconds left. Faust, however, missed his second attempt. Madison County hurried down the court and a wide-open Raines let the ball fly with a second left.
Ball game.
Raines – who scored the last seven points of the game for Madison County – said he was confident he would knock down the game winner.
“Yeah, I said, ‘I’m going to hit this and we’re going to win the game,’” he said. “It felt good.”
It looked like Madison County and Raines wouldn’t have that chance with a minute left as Madison County trailed 56-51.
But Patrick McCrary, who finished with 15 points, hit a pair of free throws with 43 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 56-53. Raines then followed with back-to-back baskets to put Madison County up 57-56, his second being a huge tip-in with 12 seconds left.
Stan Maxwell then fouled Faust with 4.3 seconds remaining, putting the Gladiator senior point guard at the line where he’d have a critical miss on his second try.
Clarke Central was 1-for-4 from the charity stripe in the final minute.
Madison County now heads into the state tournament as a no. 3 seed with a 22-6 record, as its remarkable turnaround season continues. The program will make its first state playoff appearance in 13 years.
“I’m proud of all these guys,” coach Steve Crouse said. “They’ve worked so hard to get where we haven’t been in a long time and that’s the state tournament.”
Of course, beating Clarke Central gives the Red Raiders a little extra swagger heading into state.
The two schools – separated by only about 20 miles — are intense rivals in girls’ basketball already and seem to be developing a similar type series in boys’ hoops now with this most recent down-to-the-wire affair.
“I don’t know if they feel this way, but Clarke Central is becoming a pretty good rival for us,” Crouse said. “I told my guys, ‘Clarke Central.’ That’s about all you need to say.”
The hero of the night echoed his coach’s statement.
“It feels like we’ve got a little bit of a rivalry going on with them,” Raines said. “That feels good.”
SEMIFINALS: Winder-Barrow denies MCHS a trip to region finals
The Red Raiders lost to Winder-Barrow 52-44 Feb. 19 in the region tournament semifinals at Monroe Area High School, relegating it to the consolation finals.
Just four Madison County players scored against Winder-Barrow, led by Patrick McCrary, who had 16 points. Stan Maxwell added 15 and Bradley Raines scored eight.
T.J. McGuire was the only other Madison County player to get into the scorebook with five points.
Madison County, which trailed 18-16 at the break, went scoreless behind the 3-point arc until 44 seconds left in the game when McGuire drilled a three to cut Winder-Barrow's lead to 48-44.
But Winder-Barrow's D.J. Butler hit four free throws in the final 39 seconds to seal the victory for the Bulldoggs.
FIRST ROUND: MCHS clinches spot at state with win over Monroe
Madison County led from start to finish Feb. 16 in a 67-55 victory over Monroe Area to clinch its first state tournament berth in 13 years.
Bradley Raines scored 21 points and grabbed eight boards to lead the Red Raiders, one of four Madison County players in double figures.
In fact, the Red Raiders had three players record double doubles — T.J. McGuire (15 points, 11 rebounds), Patrick McCrary (11 points, 13 rebounds) and Stan Maxwell (10 points, 11 rebounds).
Madison County answered a late shooting barrage from Monroe Area standout Ken Jackson with a well-timed 11-0 fourth quarter run to finish off Monroe Area.
“I’m very proud of our guys for just being resilient right there, and not crumbling under pressure,” coach Steve Crouse said.
Jackson, who finished with 25 points, cracked a 3-pointer with 5:46 left to cut the Red Raider lead to 48-46.
But Madison County didn’t wilt, particularly Raines.
The senior scored seven of the Red Raiders’ next 11 points as Madison County ran its lead back out to 59-48, and Monroe Area never seriously threatened again.
“We said, ‘we know we’re supposed to win,’” Raines said. “We want it. We wanted it bad. We needed the win.”
With 16 seconds left, Raines put an exclamation point on the Red Raiders’ most meaningful victory in 13 years with a hard dunk.
“Oh, that felt good right there,” Raines said.
Eleven of Raines’ 21 points came in the fourth quarter.
“Bradley Raines stepped up big in the fourth quarter,” Crouse said. “He probably played one of his best games.”
Madison County, which led 36-26 at the half, also enjoyed a tremendous advantage on the boards, out-rebounding Monroe Area 53-28.
“That’s huge for us,” Crouse said.
