RALEIGH — Hayesville men’s basketball coach Michael Cottrell praised the Lord after his Yellow Jackets gave Chatham Charter hell in the NCHSAA 1A Men’s Basketball State Championship Game.
It was the Knights’ game to lose after leading for 24 minutes, and lose they did, in a stunning collapse that led to a 54-43 overtime defeat on Saturday in Raleigh. Undefeated Hayesville surged late in the fourth quarter for a 37-37 tie, then tore the heart out of the Knights and their horrified fan base with a 17-6 eruption in OT, with 15 of those 17 points coming from free throws.
Chatham Charter had a significant presence in Reynolds Coliseum waiting to crown a king. There was a sea of purple t-shirts in the upper decks and court side emblazoned with the exhortation “Let’s Go Knights.” The faithful waved glittering purple pom-poms and loudly voiced approval with each shot that ripped the nets, every steal and turnover that went in the Knights’ favor.
But Hayesville, a tiny mountain town of fewer than 500 residents, rivaled the Chatham Charter crowd. They brought a boisterous bunch of fans who traveled the 350 miles from the Clay County seat to root their hometown heroes on to the second men’s championship in school history. The last title was in 2004.
“Hayesville’s a special place” Cottrell said in a post-game press conference. “We’ve got a very, very deep tradition in basketball and all our other sports.”
That includes six straight women’s state championships from 1988-93. Cottrell’s sister played on four of those teams.
“It’s really hard to get back here, but that tradition runs deep,” Cottrell said, extending credit beyond the players and fans. “I’ll start by saying we give glory to God.”
And he gave the Knights their due, saying they had “a great game plan” that threw his players out of rhythm until they solved the riddle late in the game.
Chatham Charter was trying to bring its first state basketball title back to Siler City in just its eighth year of fielding a team. Their fans were true believers, certain that fortune was smiling on them. They felt it in their marrow for three quarters and change until Hayesville launched its late shock-and-awe attack.
Knights fans exuded confidence as their players emerged from the tunnel onto the floor to start the game. They cheered and held aloft homemade signs singling out their favorite players, such as “You can’t stop Adam Harvey.”
The purple pom-poms fluttered like a gale-force wind blasting through a willow grove.
“Pucker up and kiss your winning streak goodbye,” one sign read. “Your mom called. You left your game at home,” read another.
The student section definitely had game. They did their best to distract the Yellow Jackets as they attempted free throws. They hurled the compulsory catcall “Air. Ball.” when a Hayesville shot connected with, well, nothing near the backboard or rim.
With both teams relying on their defensive prowess, any expectation of a high-scoring affair went out the window. Each team hit double figures only twice in the five periods.
When freshman guard Beau Harvey scored the first bucket of the game at the 6:04 mark in the first quarter, the Knights’ supporters approved by thunderous acclamation. They went wild after a steal and another Beau Harvey score at the 5:46 mark. And when he fired up a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Chatham Charter a 7-0 lead just 3 minutes, 40 seconds into the game, absolute merriment and the sense of impending triumph was in the air.
For his 16-point, 8-rebound performance, Beau Harvey was named Most Outstanding Player for the East Regional champs. His brother Adam was presented with the Sportsmanship Award before tip-off.
Throughout the game, the fan sections competed with one another. When the Knights’ Adam Harvey missed the front end of a free throw at the 2:40 mark in the first, the Hayesville side applauded his misfortune. When he dropped in the second shot, the Chatham Charter crowd rebutted with throaty pleasure.
During a timeout at the 3:18 mark of the second quarter after Chatham Charter boosted its lead to 15-11, Knights fans taunted a hushed Hayesville crowd that moments earlier was alive with hope: “We can’t hear you, we can’t hear you.”
With 1:20 remaining in the first half, Chatham Charter fans chanted the classic, “Here we go Knights, here we go!”
Adam Harvey, who was struggling — he finished the game with 11 points but shot just 4-of-20 from the field, including 0-of-2 from behind the arc — responded to the encouragement with a slump-breaking basket that gave his team a 10-point lead, its largest of the day.
But the good-natured rivalry gave way to more tense finger-pointing emotions among some as the game wore on and tolerance for jabs and insults wore thin.
The Knights led 21-14 at the half, and 28-23 after three quarters. For all appearances, Chatham Charter was comfortably in control. But without notice, the Yellow Jackets went on a fourth-quarter run, and when they took their first lead of the game, 30-28 with 6:10 remaining, their fans were euphoric.
A hush fell over the Chatham Charter crowd. Worried looks were expressed on every face, and a foreboding presence permeated their section. Was what seemed to be a certain victory evaporating before their eyes?
Not yet. The house was rocking as the score was tied five times and the lead changed three times. When Hayesville took the lead with 41 seconds left in the game, the Yellow Jackets players waved their arms, imploring their fans to pump up the volume. They eagerly complied.
But with under 30 seconds to play, Knights junior Aamir Mapp, who had 10 points in the game, knotted the score at 37.
On the other end of the floor, freshman Brennen Oldham saved the Knights from a regulation loss when he blocked Yellow Jackets sophomore Taylor McClure’s potential buzzer-beating layup to send the game into overtime.
“It was really exciting to be in this environment and (get) the biggest block of the game,” said Oldham, who slapped away five shots.
He thought the last-second heroics would return the momentum to the Knights going into overtime.
Hayesville had other ideas. They dominated OT with a 17-6 onslaught.
“This hurts for these young men, but this is something we’re going to use to get us back to this point,” said Knights coach Jason Messier. “We’re going to use this to fuel the fire when we get to our summer workouts. ... We had a chance to win this game. We can go back and sulk and not work or we’re going to get hungry. …We’re fully capable of getting back here again” now that a winning culture has been created.
The team returns all of its players next season.
Tamaya Walden knows the sting of losing in the hunt for a championship. She was a junior point guard for the Chatham Charter women’s basketball team this past season, who were bounced in the second round of the playoffs by the Clover Garden Grizzlies. Watching the men’s team lose rekindled the helpless emotion of falling short.
Walden said the entire school community was excited in anticipation of Saturday’s championship game.
“I’m really glad they got this far,” Walden said. “I think we fell apart in the fourth quarter between fouls and missing free throws in the beginning, but they still fought through. I’m glad they made it into overtime.
“I’m really proud of these boys. They worked really hard,” she continued. “They’re like brothers to me. It’s sad to see them lose, but they’ll be back next year. I know that for a fact.”
Virgil Allen of the Siler City area came to support the Knights because one of his granddaughters was in the first graduating class at Chatham Charter and another is a sophomore there.
“This is the first game I saw them play. I didn’t know they had that good of a team,” Allen said. “It was a good ballgame. I thought they had it. Hayesville just wouldn’t give up.”
He was particularly impressed by how many people drove the six hours from the mountains of Clay County. But he also gave a tip of the hat to the Chatham County contingent.
“I’ve never seen such a crowd down here,” Allen said. “It means a lot” to Siler City and Chatham County to have a team in a state championship thriller.
“I think the boys really appreciated this big crowd coming here from Siler City, Chatham County,” said Chris Brown of Siler City, father of Knights junior guard Jackson Brown. “They were really pumped up about it.”
He coached his son, Adam and Beau Harvey and Mapp in AAU basketball, all of whom have been playing together since 4th grade.
“You’ve got to give it to the other team. They hit the free throws when they needed to hit the free throws. Our boys played hard to get it into overtime,” Brown said.
He believed the pressure of the moment worked against the young Knights squad when Hayesville staged its comeback. He said Hayesville had two senior leaders who stepped up and showed leadership down the stretch, a determining factor in the outcome.
The playoff season has been filled with anxiety, he said.
“I think it was harder on me than it was on my son,” Brown said. “I couldn’t sleep last night, tossing and turning, thinking about the game and that kind of stuff. But honestly, I can breathe now and just move on to baseball.”
But not before putting the year into perspective for his son.
“I’ll just be positive. Tell him, ‘Good year, good game,’ they’ve got next year,” Brown said. “It’s not the end of the world. It’s just a game.”
As Brown was purchasing apparel memorabilia upstairs in Reynolds, a throng of Hayesville fans awaited their players’ emergence from the locker room. They whooped, whistled and clapped as the team filed by, celebrating their magical 28-0 championship season.
Down on the floor of the coliseum, a rumpled sign was discarded amid popcorn boxes and other refuse. Written on it were the words of unfulfilled prophecy: “Pucker up and kiss your winning streak goodbye.”