Ridgeland-Hardeeville wins 2-A Lower State Championship

FLORENCE -- Ridgeland-Hardeeville's Jeremiah Faber says God promised his team a championship.

The Jaguars will see if that's the case next week after defeating Timberland 62-48 on Saturday in the Class 2A Lower State championship.

Ridgeland-Hardeeville faces Keenan for the 2-A title at Colonial Life Arena next Saturday. It's the school's first trip to the state title game.

"It's our time," Faber said. "If it is promised to us by God, we just got to go out and claim it. And that is what we did tonight."

Senior guard Devantae Robinson says he and his teammates bought into their coaches' belief, which he made known at the school's postseason awards banquet.

"We knew he was right," Robinson said. "So we continued to work hard every day in practice to make it happen.

The win was the Jaguars' 23rd straight and erases the disappointing memory of last season when they lost to Lake Marion in the Lower State Championship. Robinson remembers leaving the Florence Civic Center last year in tears, and but he and his teammates were all smiles as the final seconds ticked off the clock Saturday.

Ransom Dunham and Nazair Wilson each had 15 points to lead the Jaguars. Robinson and Kevon Williams added 13.

And much like they have all season, the Jaguars used their depth to wear down Timberland.

"We usually play about 13 or 14 kids; tonight we went about 10 deep," Faber said. "I knew our bench was stronger than theirs, as with most of the teams we played this year. We rely on our bench for a lot of our success this year."

Ridgeland-Hardeeville trailed only once at 8-7 midway through the first quarter and steadily built its lead as the game went along. The Jaguars could have put the game away earlier if not for their struggles at the free-throw line.

Ridgeland-Hardeeville hit just 14 of 39 free throws, something Faber knows must change before next week's state title game.

Daiyln McKinney led Timberland with 11 points. The Wolves were making the school's first lower state appearance.

"When it was a six-point game in the third quarter, we missed three or four layups, opportunities where we needed to convert," Timberland coach Jerome Stewart said. "We continued to make a stance on defense, but offensively we couldn't play through the contact to score enough."

Ridgeland-Hardeeville 62, Timberland 48

TIMBERLAND (48): S. Williams 7, McKinney 11, Harris 1, K. Williams 3, Watson 3, Brown 10, Johnson 7, Mitchell 2, Anderson 2, Alston 1.

RIDGELAND-HARDEEVILLE (62): Wilson 15, Williams 13, Bush 1, Robinson 13, Ferrell 2, Dunham 15, Walter 3

This story was originally published March 1, 2015 at 12:34 AM.