Perfection denied as York Prep falls to Gray in 2A boys basketball title game
York Prep fell one win short of perfection.
The Patriots, a group that had won 27 times in a row after the loss that knocked them out of last year’s playoffs, fell to Gray Collegiate 56-53 on Saturday afternoon in the USC Aiken Convocation Center.
It required a thrilling finish to oust them, though. With 37.5 seconds left in the game, senior guard Kory Davis drove right and found senior forward Brenton Elliott for a layup that cut the deficit to 55-53.
Then, after a few empty possessions and with Gray clinging to a 56-53 lead, York Prep’s Kory Davis tried to make something positive out of a broken play and took a contested shot near the top of the key. But it didn’t fall.
Gray then corralled the rebound, and the celebration began.
The Eagles, with the win, have now won four titles in the past five years.
York Prep was going for its first title since joining the S.C. High School League in 2018.
YPA head coach Larry Davis spent a lot of time in the locker room after the heartbreaking loss. He was consoling not only his team but also his two senior sons, Kory and Kendall, who saw their careers end on Saturday.
“We had an outstanding season,” Davis said. “I told the kids we had a great season, being 27 and, now, one. We beat a lot of great teams. You’re getting ready to depart into the next part of your life. And so you gotta take this lesson and make sure you’re a better person.”
He then mentioned the last game coaching his sons: “Those two guys, they’re my heart. I wanted to win this one so badly for them. And I wanted them to have the opportunity to experience to play that last game and come out as a winner. But like I said, we didn’t make enough plays, but this is something I’ll cherish for the rest of (our) lives.”
What happened?
The Patriots got down as many as nine in the first quarter, thanks to YPA cold shooting and Gray Collegiate flexing its state championship muscle. But they soon righted the ship. YPA entered the second quarter only down 16-11 after a Kendall Davis contested jump shot went in with two seconds left in the first.
And the back-and-forth affair then commenced.
Gray Collegiate went on short runs here and there. After a Montraivis White 3 with 1:48 left in the first half, the Eagles claimed a 24-15 lead.
But York Prep responded — whether it be in the form of a Ladarian McCree pull-up jumper, a Kory Davis or Kendall Davis fastbreak bucket, or a Ji’Meion Brown or a Brenton Elliott finish after a YPA drive.
Gray entered the halftime break up 26-22 and entered the third quarter break up 43-35.
In the fourth quarter, Gray stood tough, but so did York Prep. The team from Rock Hill went on a 10-4 run — punctuated by a DJ Barksdale floater — with about 2:20 left to cut Gray’s lead to 53-50.
And then, after a few traded buckets that led to the aforementioned Kory Davis shot, York Prep’s state title dreams ended.
“We tried to run an Iverson cut across the top and get some dribble penetration to get DJ a shot along the baseline,” Davis said of the game’s final consequential play. “But it got congested at the top and we didn’t really get into our action. And Kory had a nice look at it, I thought. It rimmed out, off the back rim.
“He’s a warrior. Nobody works harder than him. And for him to have that last shot, I’m just sorry it didn’t fall for him.”
York Prep saw three players finish in double-figures: Ladarian McCree had 12, Kory Davis had 12 and DJ Barksdale finished with 10. Ji’Meion Brown (7 points, 8 rebounds), Brenton Elliott (6), Kendall Davis (4) and Jevon Long (2) also scored.
How York Prep got to Saturday
It’s hard to tell the story of York Prep’s triumphs of the 2021-22 season without telling the story of its struggles just a few years before.
Larry Davis remembers when YPA was “at the bottom” in his first year as head coach in 2018. The Patriots, previously a basketball factory of sorts in Rock Hill, had just joined the S.C. High School League as a conditional member. And that changed their complexion a bit and caused some growing pains. In the 2018-19 season, that team finished 6-14.
But over the course of the next three years, Larry Davis began to build.
His team went 18-6 in 2019-20 and then 19-5 in 2020-21. The Patriots lost in last year’s playoffs to Gray Collegiate after a last-second, half-court heave that just barely caromed off the rim — and that loss stuck with YPA in 2021-22.
It’s fair to say that the miss, in fact, carried YPA through 2021-22 and helped the team get to Saturday’s summit. It gave the team a chip on its shoulder despite being ranked No. 3 in the S.C. Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll, despite earning an undefeated regular season record and despite claiming a Region 4-2A championship.
The shot even fueled the team during its 2A Lower State championship win on Monday, which ultimately delivered York Prep its first state championship appearance.
Davis told reporters that he had a simple message for his team postgame: “Remember this feeling. You don’t wanna repeat it. And unfortunately we did (this time). And we’ll try to get past it in the next couple days.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 3:38 PM.
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