For the fifth time this year, the Ridgeway Roadrunners and the Cordova Cougars got together for basketball game but this was more than just a regular season match up, it was for the state championship. Super 8th grader Laron Black, scored their first 4 points with his second field goal being a dunk as Cordova got the early lead. After another two and the free throw by Black, the score was 7-7 but then Terrell Triplett went on a scoring run of his own. The 5′8 guard scored 7 straight points to end the 1st quarter, 14-9 with Ridgeway holding the lead. The key word in the last sentence, hold as Ridgeway came out in the 2nd quarter and held the ball the entire quarter trying to make Ridgeway out of their zone and man up. Cordova held fast to their strategy and the quarter ended the same as the 1st quarter, 14-9. Triplett hit another 3 pointer to make the game 18-14 at the 3:30 mark of the 3rd quarter as Ridgeway looked to take advantage of their talent over Cordova but a third foul on Khalil Spencer took him out of the game, which would end up being big because he has led them in scoring virtually every game in the playoffs. Ridgeway was still up 4 to start the 4th quarter, 23-19 but Cordova got a big contribution from Calvin Scott and JC Odom. Scott hit a 8 ft corner jumper on a pass from Black, hit another short j and converted two free throws all in consecutive possessions as Ridgeway started to look a little rattled. The other reason for them looking a little rattled came from JC Odom. Odom, another  reserve guard off the bench played great defense often disrupting them from getting into their offense smoothly. He got key rebounds and kept possessions alive as Cordova went up 29-25 with 2:10 left. Triplett got fouled trying to rebound a miss for a basket with 1:42 left getting his two free throws to go down. Black went to the line for some big free throws and hit the first one but a lane violation gave it back to Ridgeway to try and hit a 3 pointer to tie the game at 30 all. They tried to hit two 3 pointers but Cordova failed to rebound their misses giving them a chance again to try again after a timeout by Coach Phillips. The result of their timeout, a huge turnover with 22.1 seconds left in the game but the ball would be given right back after a turnover less than 5 seconds later with a steal by Kevin Shields who got fouled. Shields would hit one but miss his second but Ridgeway got the ball but Odom stole it and got fouled as the sideline went crazy for Ridgeway. Odom would miss both free throws and Ridgeway regained possession but another turnover, this time a game ending turnover on the out of bounds pass sealed the deal for Cordova’s state championship, 31-28. Congratulations Cordova on a great season and your first ever Large Schools Division Championship.

Leading Cordova in scoring was Laron Black who had 17 points with 8 rebounds and 6 blocks. Terell Triplett tied Black with 16 points of his own. Here are some players of note who made the state sectional all tournament team.