al.com BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – With Luverne shot blocker Donta’ Hall manning the middle, Elba coach Karl Bledsoe thought earlier this week that it would be nice if someone on his team got hot from the outside.
Junior Martavious Gray obliged in the Class 2A championship game on Friday.
The 5-foot-11 guard hit four 3s and scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half as sixth-ranked Elba knocked off Luverne 66-61 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena to win the school’s first state basketball title.
“I thought he was outstanding, great,” Bledsoe said of Gray. “Of course, our goal is to get the ball inside first of all, but with a guy like Donta’ Hall blocking shots right and left that is tough. Earlier this week, it crossed my mind that it sure would be nice if Martavious got hot and, fortunately for us, he did.”
Elba trailed by seven at the half and by as many as eight early in the third quarter before Gray finished with a flurry. After Denzell Thomas’ basket cut the Luverne lead to 44-40, Gray sandwiched a steal and layup between a pair of 3-pointers.
Elba led 48-46 entering the fourth.
“I went in at half and just prayed to the Lord that my shots would start falling,” Gray said. “I came out in the second half, and they did.”
The fourth quarter went back-and-forth between the two teams, who were meeting for the third time this season. Top-ranked Luverne (25-3) won the previous two, both in December tournament finals.
Preston Sankey’s fade away jumper gave Luverne its final lead, 58-57, with 2:32 left in the game. He finished with 17 points.
“They made that run at the end of the third quarter, and we never really seemed to get back in sync after that,” Luverne coach Richard Dorsey said. “They made the plays at the end that they needed to win the game. My hat is off to them.”
After Sankey’s basket, MVP Cobe Goosby hit two free throws to give his team the lead for good, 59-58 with 2:14 left. In his final high school game, Goosby finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and three assists.
After DeAnthony Rutledge missed a 3 that would have given Luverne the lead back, Gray hit his biggest – and final 3 – of the night. This one came from the top of the key and gave Elba (26-2) a 62-58 lead with just over a minute left.
“They made some big shots,” Dorsey said. “Their guy (Gray) made some 3s, and some of them were very deep. You can’t do much about that. We had some opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize on enough of them.”
Goosby hit four more free throws down the stretch to put the game away. TraQuez Watkins hit a meaningless 3 in the final seconds to make the final score a little closer.
Luverne made just 6 of 16 free throws and committed 17 turnovers. Elba hit 12-of-20 from the free throw line.
“I don’t know if the free throws haunted us as much as the turnovers,” Dorsey said. “Seventeen turnovers is uncharacteristic for us. We averaged about 10 all season. I think that was a big difference.”
