Keenan Sets Date With History With 42-39 Win Over Loris In The AAA Boy’s Lower State Basketball Finals

Billy Baker • March 1, 2025

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By Billy G. Baker

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Florence—Newcomer Loris High went up against seven-time state championship coach Zach Norris and Keenan (21-8) in the AAA boy’s lower state basketball finals at the Florence Civic Center on Feb., 28 and after this “scrap on the court” the Raiders prevailed 42-39 in a game that had several lead changes.

Keenan will now rest their legs and get ready to play Powdersville High on Thursday March, 6 at 6 p.m. in the same arena. Powdersville nipped Christ Church 58-57 to advance.

After this “every shot contested, every point earned game”, Coach Norris shared some thoughts with the HSSR, “It was that type of game for sure,” said Coach Norris. “It was a battle start to finish. We like to score inside and their zone defense made it a challenge for us.

“I thought Antoine Caughman knocked down some big jumpers for us today,” said Coach Norris. “This was one of my more -prouder wins. You know our players could have hung their heads and said this is not our day, but they kept battling and battling, until we got it over the top, I felt like in the second half we played a lot better defensively. I also think we turned it over less.”

With history making hanging in the balance against Powdersville next week, what does Coach Norris feel like his team needs to improv on? “We just need to execute better in all phases of the game,” said Coach Norris. “We just need to develop a plan to attack packed in zones better. In this game they were doubling up Brian Sumpter every time he had the ball.”

Loris head coach Andrew Eads told the HSSR after the game, “I thought we played well enough to win and I thought we had a really good game plan,” he said. “I am incredibly proud of the effort my team put out there. Sometimes the ball bounces off the rim in strange ways as it did for us several times in this game.

“We knew coming into this game it was going to be physical and contested the whole way,” said Coach Eads. “We were ready for it. We were right there but we just could not get it done.”

Loris has just one senior starter moving on in B.J. Johnson. “He could not find his footing at the start of the season but he kept working and improving and I could not be prouder of him,” said Coach Eads.

This state championship game will have a lot of attention drawn to it as Keenan High will be going for their 10^th state boy’s state title, and should they defeat Powdersville, it will tie the school with Great Falls and Hall of Fame coach John Smith for most state titles by a SCHSL member. Coach Norris has played in 11 state finals to date, winning seven of them.

Loris started out with a 10-5 lead over the Raiders after the first period. Khalid Sherman made two free throws and scored on a driving lay-up to put Loris up 4-1 at the 3:50 mark of the first period as both defenses dominated.

The second period produced more offense with Keenan leading 20-16 at the half. The Raiders used a 7-1 run to build an 12-11 lead with 4:39 left in the second period. Broderick Anderson hit three-point shot and Ny’Keim McNeil scored off a steal-lay-up, and then Noah Smith added the 7^th point of the run on a put-back shot that gave Keenan their first lead of the game.

In the third period both teams battled like an Ali-Frazier prize fight. After Loris guard Nigel Miller hit a floater to cut the deficit to 21-20 Khalid Sherman made two free throws to give the Lions the lead at 24-23 with 4:24 left in the quarter. Then Keenan’s Brian Sumpter scored on a put-back and Antoine Caughman scored on a twisting lay-up to put the Raiders back up 27-25 with 3:06 to play in the third.

The third quarter ended in a 31-31 tie after Loris junior forward Jacobien Lewis converted one of two free throws with 2.5 seconds left. Keenan had pulled ahead 31-30 with 31.8 seconds left when Caughman made two free throws.

In the fourth period, the intensity of the game reached a feverish pitch, with every steal, soft dunk, and foul whistled by the officials drawing either cheers or boo’s depending on what fan base benefitted. With 2:53 left in the game, Keenan took a 41-35 lead after a three-point shot by Caughman and a put-back by Marcus Simmons.

In the final two minutes of the game Loris saw two lay-ups fall off the rim in near misses and neither team scored a basket in the final minute of the game. The closest Loris got was 41-39 with 1”31 left when Khalil Sherman converted two free throws. The final point of the game was claimed by Keenan on a free throw with one minute left.

For the game Keenan was l din scoring by Caughman with 17 points followed by Andrson and Simmons with 8 points each. Sumpter contributed five points, McNiel three points, and Ty’Heim McNeil added one point.

Loris had 8 players scored one point or more. Khalil Sherman led the team with 10 points followed by Khalid Sherman with 8 points. BJ Johnson contributed six points while Miller, Tyler Brown, and Lewis each had four points. Jay Stevenson scored two points and Mykhei Bell had one point.

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