Keenan beats defending champ Powdersville 58-53 to win AAA boys basketball title

Florence – The W.J. Keenan High School boys basketball program finally got one for the other thumb.

       The Raiders had been sitting on nine state championships since winning back-to-back AAA crowns in 2019 and 2020. That all came to an end on Thursday as WJK defeated defending AAA state champion Powdersville 58-53 at Florence Center.

       Keenan became just the second program in the state to win 10 state titles. It is now tied with Great Falls with the most, one ahead of Calhoun County and now defunct Charleston with nine apiece.

               “I thought I was snakebit because I’m used to getting there,” said head coach Zach Norris, who has now led the Raiders to eight of those championships since taking over in 1999. “The last three years losing in the semifinals that really hurt. To go through this and win it, that’s a blessing.”

       Senior big man Brian Sumpter was a member of those three teams that reached the semifinals, so going out as a state champion is special to him.

       “It means a lot to be the team that finally breaks the curse, and I’m the leader of that team,” said the 6-foot-8-inch Sumpter, who averaged a double-double this year and has signed to play collegiately with Wofford.

       Prior to the game, Norris pulled out some of his championship rings in the locker room to allow his players to take a look at them. There were different reactions from the Raiders.

       “It was on my finger and I just had to get one,” said senior guard Nyheim McNeil. Sumpter was on the other end of the spectrum.

       “I ddin’t want to touch it,” he said. “Because I wanted to touch my own, get my own, and we got it.”

       WJK, which finished the season ith a 22-8 record, never trailed to the Patriots, who closed out with a 21-10 record. The game was only tied on three occasions – 2-2, 4-4 and 7-7. That doesn’t mean it was an easy task though.

       Keenan led 16-11 after one quarter. After PHS’ Von Burton hit a free throw to start the second-quarter scoring, the Raiders got a 3-point play from freshman Antonio Caughman Jr. and a jumper from Sumpter to make it 21-12 with 6:22 left in the first half.

       Powdersville was able to pull within 25-20 by halftime, but WJ K began to balloon the lead as soon asa the second half began. Keenan scored seven of the first nine points, with Caughman accounting for four of them, to make it 32-20 with 6:23 left in the third quarter.

              The Patriots managed to whittle the margin back down to four with a 3-point play by Quan Burton making it 36-32 with 2:34 to go. Caughman broke that skein with a 3-point basket from the top of the key as the Raiders led 42-34 entering the fourth quarter.

       “The first quarter we kind of got out of sync a little bit, and they got after us,” said Powdersville head coach Austin Anderson. “We did a really good job battling back. We just didn't have enough to finish.".

WJK managed to get the lead to 44-35 before Jaleel McGee drained a trey and hit a layup. A layup by Colton Kreger pulled PHS withing 44-42 with plenty of time still left in the game at 4:46. Powdersville had the basketball a couple of times with a chance to tie the game or take the lead but was unable to do so.

       McNeil managed to get out on the ront end of a couple of fast breaks for layupe to make it 48-42 with 2:23 remaining. The Patriots got a layup and two free thrwos rom Quan Burton to make it 48-46 with 1:44 to go.

       Keenan wasn’t great from the free throw line down the stretch, hitting just 3 of 6, but PHS was unable to capitalize. Another layup by McNeil made it 53-46 with 1:01 to go. Powdersville got within four one more time with 30 seconds left but couldn’t get any closer.

       “I told them to relax and stop throwing the ball away,” Norris said when asked what he told the team on how to right the ship. “We’re better than that.”

       “You’ve got to trust the system,” McNeil said. “That’s what I did and we won it. We just wanted to play hard and get the ring.”

Three Raiders scored in double figures led by Caughman with 17. McNeil, who entered the game averaging 4.5 pints per contest, finished with 15 while Sumpter had 10. Malik Brunson Jr. had nine, Broderick Anderson Jr. had four points and a team high seven rebounds, and Marcus Simmons Jr. had three points.

       Caughman had team highs in assists and steals with four and three, respectively, to go with five rebounda. Sumpter had six boards, three assists and two blocked shots.

       Von Burton led PHS with 19 points and had five steals. McGree had 15 points, a team high eight rebounds and five steals, while Quan Burton had 13 points and four steals.

       Kreger added four points and Micah Williams had two.

       Anderson was not surprised by Powdersville’s success after winning the title the year beore with a 25-6 record.

       “We didn’t want to hear from the naysayers,” he said. “We felt like we could get back here. I feel like we can do it again next yeqr.”

       Norris wants to see what the future holds for his young team, which had just four seniors. However, he is hoping to do so as a retired educator.

      " I’m going to talk with my principal on Monday and see if I can retire but continue to coach. I still have that fire in my heart.”