WINTERBORO — The championship is signed, sealed and delivered.
But most of all, the county basketball championship is going back to Sylacauga. Go ahead and call it what it is, back-to-back titles.
The Sylacauga High boys secured their second straight large schools championship with a close and nerve-wracking 64-59 win over the Talladega Tigers in the Talladega County basketball tournament Friday night.
The game went down to the very end before the Aggies completed the championship task on the Winterboro High court. Grant Hickey, the low post ace for Sylacauga High, sank four crucial free throws in the final 2:15 seconds in the title tussle.
“We have so many shooters (on our team). We got hot, and we bought in,” Hickey said.
That wasn’t nearly all for the Aggies, who have steered their record to 14-10. The Sylacauga High boys also got a 3-point bucket from sophomore guard Jordan Roberson with 6:26 left.
The Aggies were starting to smell another county basketball championship after Roberson gave Sylacauga a 54-48 lead.
Roberson and the Aggies bombarded the net with 3-pointer after 3-pointer and 10 in all. For the tournament, Sylacauga High stroked through 20 from 3-point range.
“We fight and grind," Aggies head coach William Fullington said. "We play fearless.”
On this title-winning excursion, Sylacauga High got three 3-pointers from junior guard Conner Twymon. Aggies sophomore Ayden Crowe and Hickey also drained two 3-pointers apiece.
“We faced some pressure, but we got our points,” Twymon said.
He spun the ball for 21 points in the title game. Hickey was a torrid shooter, too, with 17 points.
Talladega High, which fell to 11-9, made a strong run at the Aggies. The THS Tigers kept chopping into the Sylacauga High lead.
Senior guard Jaquintez Garrett and sophomore Najeh Swain of Talladega High knocked down 22 and 17 points on the evening, respectively. Swain even had a putback with 22.1 seconds left to shave the Aggie lead to 62-59.
