Cougars Falter at State

Piedmont Academy’s adventure into the Class AA state boys basketball tournament turned out to be a short stay last week.

The Cougars were bounced from post-season play by Flint River 65-47 in an opening-round contest last Thursday. The loss saw the Cougars finish the 2005-06 campaign with an overall record of 20-8, a vast improvement from the previous season’s 5-20 mark. The 20 wins are believed to be a school record for varsity boys basketball.

For coach Chip Champion, the improvement is noted, but there is also some disappointment in how the season ended.

“I talked with the players last Friday (the day after the state tournament loss) and told them that the last two weeks of the season were a disappointment, but we have reason to be ecstatic about the rest of it.”

Piedmont earned the No. 1 seed for the region tournament, but was then upset in its first game.

The Cougars entered state as a No. 3 seed. Meanwhile, Brentwood, a team which Piedmont handily defeated twice during the regular season, won the region tournament and is preparing for this week’s Final Four in Milledgeville.
For Champion and his Cougars, it’s a case of “what might have been.”

“We won 10 games in a row at one point this season,” the coach said. “We were playing good basketball in January. To get to the next level, however, you have to play that way for the entire season.”

One positive to look forward to is the fact there were no seniors on this year’s roster.
“I don’t think we peaked too early this year, rather we simply had some bad luck at the end,” Champion said.

In the state tournament against Flint River, Piedmont led 25-24 at halftime. The Cougars were outscored 22-9 in the third quarter, however, and could not recover. Another stat which hurt was an 8-of-22 night from the foul line.

Whit Morgan led the team with nine points while Cris Jackson and Josh Phillips added eight each.
“We just didn’t play well enough to win,”

Champion said. “We had it in our mind that they had beaten us twice this season.”

Champion did say he thought his team gave Flint River enough of a test that the Wildcats fell in their quarterfinal matchup.

Off-season work for players not involved in other spring sports has already begun as the team begins to look toward 2006-07.