Gaffney Downs Lexington in Overtime Thriller

In a raucous, nail-biting thriller, Gaffney beat Lexington High Friday night in overtime 58-55 to claim the Class AAAA state boys basketball championship.

With seconds ticking away in regulation, it appeared that the Wildcats, up by 2, would put an end to years of futility against the Indians. But a pair of free throws knotted the score, and Lexington could't convert at the other end, sending the game into overtime. 

Both teams traded leads throughout the extra period, but with three seconds left, Lexington missed a three-point try, giving Gaffney the championship.

The pain of the loss was etched on the faces of the Wildcat players after the game. Making matters worse was losing to Gaffney, which beat Lexington for the fourth time in a championship game. The Wildcats lost to Gaffney the last time they reached the championship in 2010. They also lost to the Indians in 1997 and 1999.

Head coach  Bailey Harris, in his 25th season, has lived through all four of those losses, but he said his players had nothing to be ashamed of Friday night.

"They gave everything they had," said Harris, whose 1996 and 2000 squads won the state championship. "The effort was there. … [Gaffney] made plays when they had to. That's what you have to do to win it. Just one or two plays … if we didn't have one of those turnovers in the backcourt, or we made one of those free throws, we wouldn't have had overtime.

"But I can't complain," he added. "I can't fault our kids' effort."