Late three, offensive rebound push Dallas Madison past Cole in state championship

Kardae Turner rebounded a Dallas Madison free-throw miss and his put-back with 18 seconds left pushed the Trojans to the Class 3A state championship over San Antonio Cole, 53-51, on Saturday at the Alamodome.

Madison (38-7) secures its third state title in four seasons.

The Trojans won in 2019 and were co-champs during the 2020 COVID year.

“Blessed,” Madison coach Damien Mobley said. “Like I told these guys, God has been by our side. One of our mottos we put up in the locker room before is ‘put God first’ and we understand without him, none of these things would be possible.

“We also know in order for us to be standing up here as state champs, the ball is going to have to bounce our way and it takes some luck along the way. We felt like the luck bounced our way tonight.”

Cole (32-9), which is where Hall of Fame basketball player Shaquille O’Neal graduated, won the title last season.

Madison trailed with under a minute left in the game when Latrelle Wright drove to the wing and hit an off-balanced three that tied the game at 51 with 48 seconds on the clock.

“Knew I was going to take a three, but needed some help,” Wright said. “I called for the screen. [My man] didn’t stay, he went back so I was open. Saw it and it dropped. I knew it was going in.”

After a timeout, Cole turned it over when Madison’s Pierre Hunter picked up the steal. Hunter was fouled and sent to the line where he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

No one boxed out Turner, who scored on the easy basket. Cole had a chance to tie or take the lead on the final possession, but Trey Blackmore’s corner three was contested and short.

Madison was led by Rodney Geter’s 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting and eight rebounds. He was voted state championship game MVP.

Hunter added 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting, four boards, three assists and two steals. Turner scored 10 on 4 of 5 from the floor and eight rebounds.

The Trojans seemed to be in total control in the first half when they scored the first eight points. They led 15-6 after the opening period and 29-19 at intermission.

Madison shot 48% from the field in the first half including 6 of 11 in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Cole shot 6 of 23 in the first half and 2 of 7 in the first quarter.

But Cole regrouped.

The Cougars scored nine straight capped off with a James Livingston three that cut the lead to 35-33 with 3:29 left in the third quarter. Since trailing by 12, Cole ended the final 5:40 of the third with an 18-5 run. Blackmore nailed a three-pointer and Geter hit a late layup, and Cole led 40-39 after the period.

The teams traded four leads in the fourth until Dre Ray gave the Cougars a 51-48 edge with 1:37 left in the game.

Blackmore led Cole with 14 points.

The Cougars struggled from the line going 11 of 22.

This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 12:34 PM.