BASKETBALL: Dublin done in by shooting droughts as Southwest spoils dark-horse bid in region finals

SANDERSVILLE – After a memorable week, Dublin’s clock finally struck midnight on Friday as a 61-36 loss to Southwest Macon in the region championship game brought its Cinderella story to an end. 

The glass slippers had held up quite nicely for the Irish as they continued dancing right up until the 11th hour of the 2-High A tournament, when the magic that had carried them through an unbelievable four-night win streak finally gave out. 

Though its carriage transformed back to a school bus for the ride home from Washington County High School, Dublin’s season – which was on the brink only days ago – has not yet turned to a pumpkin. 

The Irish, who earned the right to continue playing in the state tournament by advancing to the region semifinals, will get to play at least one more game as they host Jasper County in the first round later this week. 

The Patriots, who prevailed to complete their wire-to-wire unbeaten streak in region play and repeat as champs, were again the better team on this particular night. 

But the Irish, who had lost to them by 51 in the regular season, were never overmatched, and neither was the game – until Southwest ran away with it in the last several minutes – at any point un-winnable. 

Still, the version of Dublin that took the floor in this game seemed tense and unsettled in comparison to the one that had played relaxed, fearless basketball, described by head coach Carlos Hope as “free and loose,” with a nothing-to-lose demeanor in the four games leading up. 

Whether it was fatigue, the stakes and magnitude of the moment, the stature of a top-rated opponent or some combination of the three, something caught up with the Irish on Friday. 

“I didn’t feel like we competed,” Hope said. “I thought we played nervous. They’re a heck of a basketball team.” 

Besides Chris Dixon’s finish off a winding drive for a lay-in to quench an opening drought, Dublin was without a field goal for the first five minutes of the game as even its most point-blank of routine shots and putback attempts struggled to get in the hole. 

The snakebit first half had the Irish trailing by 18 at the break. But they’d rebound to make it into a game, whittling the Southwest lead down to only nine points by late in the third quarter to ignite some hope in a comeback, and get folks back on the edges of their seats. 

That momentum, however, would fizzle out completely as the early shooting woes reared their ugly head in the fourth quarter, and Dublin scored its only remaining three points at the foul line over another field goal-less stretch in the final eight minutes. 

Southwest – led by the 20 points of Chase Dupree and 13 of C.J. Howard – pulled back away with 14. 

“Our goal was to get it down to 10 going to the fourth quarter, and we got it there to I think 11 or nine, and they pushed it back up there,” Hope said. “Our kids fought hard. It’s been a heck of a run, so we’ll go back and rest up and get some work in this weekend and get ready for the playoffs.”

Dixon’s clutch shooting produced the top Irish point total, and, once they were able to get off the starting line and rolling, 11 of their 16 first-half points. 

Southwest, though, came out firing on a 5-0 run, and put up as many after Dixon’s initial basket to run the lead to 10-2 with a second 3-pointer by Alex Butts around three minutes to go. 

Dublin had climbed back to within seven before a buzzer-beating layup put the Patriots back in front by a count of 16-7 at the end of the first. And they opened the second on just as much of a tear with six unanswered in the first three. 

Big quarters by both Dupree and Howard made it 34-16 at the half. 

Some halftime words seemed to get the Irish back on track. After an early exchange of points, they got 3s from both Kam Stanley and Jaydon McRae to quickly cut the Southwest lead to 12. Ar’Dreakius Taylor continued the unanswered run a few possessions later with a tough banker to make it 10. 

Dupree knocked down a triple to break up the Patriots’ scoreless streak, but a rapid answer from Dixon had some newfound spring in Dublin’s step. 

He’d score again out of a timeout to make it 41-32, and get some folks in green around the room feeling the magic from earlier in the week making its return. 

Sadly, that seemed to be the last little bit.

Southwest snapped back with six points to close the quarter. The Irish answered with only one via free throw, and it was 47-33 headed to the fourth. 

The Patriots only widened the lead from there. 

Dublin’s Taylor and Quan Lovett had six points apiece. Lovett led the Irish in rebounds, with eight, and blocked shots, with two. 

Though it fell a little short of a true fairytale ending, the inspiring comeback story has done a lot to bring redemption to this Dublin basketball season that, before a last shot to keep it going last Monday, was on track to finish as a pretty discouraging one. 

After an 0-13 region finish, the Irish were able to double their overall win total, and also secure an unexpected state playoff berth, as their late-blooming team found some sweet results as a reward for sticking things out through the bitter end.

“To God be the glory, man,” Hope said. “God’s been awesome to us here. The last this whole year, nobody gave us a chance. For our kids to continue to buy into the things we preach every day when we talk about culture and the way to do things the right way, I’m just thankful to be a part of it.” 

In this week’s state playoffs, Dublin’s boys will be at home for their first-round game against Jasper County Wednesday. The Lady Irish, 27th in the draw, will travel to face No. 6 Bacon County on Tuesday.