CLASS A PUBLIC NOTEBOOK: Marquez Willis provides spark off the bench

MACON — To win a state championship, there are often players whose names don’t appear in the boxscore. But without them, the championship trophy isn’t hoisted.

For Calhoun County in their 84-82 thriller over Greenville on Thursday at the Macon Coliseum, that player was Marquez Willis.

With star guard Quenten Taylor picking up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter, Willis came off the bench and provided nine valuable minutes.

Willis entered as the shooting guard, while Shaw moved Sherrod Williams to point guard.

“He’s a kid that takes pride in defense,” Shaw said of Willis. “He didn’t get a chance to play a whole lot during the regular season, but when he was called upon, he was always ready. He always stepped up. He brought a big boost off the bench for us and that was what we needed. We’ve told our kids all year long to be patient, wait your time and be ready to go when called. He was ready.”

Willis finished with one rebound and one steal, but his defensive skills helped the Cougars. Taylor said he wasn’t surprised.

“He’s been doing that all year,” Taylor said. “He always shows up when we needed him. In the region tournament, he showed up.”

FINAL GAME FOR SENIORS: It was the final game for six Calhoun County seniors. And for Taylor, he couldn’t help but to want to hold the state championship trophy a little longer after the game.

“I’m excited,” Taylor said. “We worked hard for this. I always told my mama that my senior year, I had to get it. That’s why I’m excited because I lived up to my word.”

TURNOVERS COSTLY: A rash of second-half turnovers helped Greenville go on a 12-0 run during a 2:06 span early in the final period to cut Calhoun’s lead to 71-70. After finishing with just seven turnovers during the first half, the Cougars had 15 in the final two quarters — a stat that nearly cost them the game.

“Turnovers were going to hurt us and we knew that,” Shaw said. “We just needed to correct the problem. We turned the ball over a lot during that run. We had to relax and calm down, go back to playing basic basketball. We came this far, got through a lot of adversity this season, we just needed to settle down.”

THIS & THAT: Calhoun finished the game shooting 19 of 33 from the free throw line. … Sherrod Williams, who finished with eight rebounds, needed two more to finish with a double-double. … It was Calhoun County’s first boys state basketball title since 1997. … The Cougars’ only two losses this season were to Randolph-Clay and Seminole County, who will play for the Class AA state title today. … Taylor hit two 3-pointers and Deante Scott hit one as Calhoun shot 3 of 7 from 3-point range. Greenville shot a paltry 2 of 17 from 3-point range.