Gaines steps up for Whitefield Academy

Kenny Gaines spent much of Saturday’s GHSA Class A boys championship game playing above the rim. His acrobatic effort, which included two alley-oops and two more spectacular dunks, left Whitefield Academy above all the rest.

“We practice those a lot,” Gaines said. “We look at highlight plays as a way to quiet the other team’s crowd.”

Gaines scored 24 points and tallied four steals as the Wolfpack won their third state championship with a 73-49 victory over Athens Christian at the Macon Coliseum.

“Kenny has come so far from where I got him as a 10th-grader,” Whitefield Academy head coach Tyrone Johnson said. “Back then, he didn’t know too much about basketball. Teams would come out to recruit him, and he wouldn’t even know where they were located -- didn’t even know what conference they belonged to.

“In three years, I’ve never seen anyone’s game improve that much.”

Gaines, who has signed a national letter-of-intent with Georgia, provided the flash. He left the hard work in the paint and under the basket to the bruising duo of Eric Lockett and Lorenzo Carter.

Lockett scored 18 points and garnered 13 rebounds. Carter scored just six points but grabbed 11 rebounds and added five blocked shots. The pair also was responsible for landing Athens Christian (30-3) in serious foul trouble in the first half.

“I challenged my guys before this game from a toughness standpoint,” Johnson said. “I really felt like Lanier County out-toughed us in the semifinal.

“Fortunately, my guys answered the challenge. We dominated the offensive and defensive glass.”

Eagles center Zach Lille, a 6-foot-8 USC-Upstate signee, committed his fourth personal foul with more than two minutes remaining in the first half. Guard Zack Resop, the Eagles’ main perimeter shooting threat, had three first-half fouls.

“That did it,” Athens Christian head coach Ron Link said. “My best two inside-outside players were not in there when we needed them to be.

“I don’t mind rough games, but I’ve never seen so many touch fouls called when people were getting leveled to the ground and weren’t being called.”

Whitefield Academy (29-3) opened with a 10-2 run to start the game. Athens Christian -- riding a 24-game winning streak -- clawed its way back. Will Jackson, who finished with a team-high 20 points, made a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to draw the Eagles to within five points.

“Getting behind early didn’t faze us,” Link said. “We were down 13-3 in the semifinal, but when you only play six, sometimes seven players, you can’t lose two of them to foul trouble, especially those two.”

A 12-2 Wolfpack run in the second quarter allowed them to take a commanding 43-24 lead into halftime.

Shortly into the third quarter, Resop picked up his fourth foul and finished with just seven points. Lillie scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half playing with four fouls, but Athens Christian committed 15 turnovers and shot just 2-for-13 from beyond the arc.

Whitefield Academy led by as many as 30 in the second half and shot 19-for-23 from the free-throw line to ease away down the stretch.

Gaines said the victory is a culmination of the roller-coaster ride the Wolfpack have experienced in the past decade. Whitefield Academy claimed titles in 2003 and 2009, while losing in the championship game four other times.

“If we weren’t hungry, we couldn’t do the things like we did (Saturday),” Gaines said.

That mentality propelled Whitefield Academy to 22 straight wins to close the season.

“We never mix the message,” Johnson said. “Every year we want to be back in Macon.”

WHITEFIELD ACADEMY 73, ATHENS CHRISTIAN 49

Athens Christian

15-9-9-16--49

Whitefield Academy

20-23-17-13--73

Athens Christian: Will Jackson 20, Zach Lillie 19, Zack Resop 7, James Howell 4.

Whitefield Academy: Kenneth Gaines 24, Eric Lockett 18, Khalen Pinkett 9, Jordan Coar 9, Lorenzo Carter 6, Gerald Render 3, Berto Dryden 2, Braelen Philips 2.

3-pointers: Athens Christian 2 (Jackson, Resop); Whitefield Academy 0.

Records: Athens Christian 30-3, Whitefield Academy 29-3.

This story was originally published March 11, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Gaines steps up for Whitefield Academy."