By Robert Wilson
The Madden Mafia – aka the Leake Academy fans – is partying like it was 1999.
The Leake Academy boys basketball team won the MAIS Class 3A state championship with a 58-55 victory over three-time defending state champion West Memphis, Ark., Saturday night before dozens of Leake fans wearing black Madden Mafia t-shirts and celebrating after the win at Kirk Academy in Grenada.
Leake won its first boys basketball title since 1999 and ninth in school history and have a 32-3 record and have only one loss to Tri-County Academy in MAIS competition. The boys joined the girls as state champions. The girls won their 23rd in school history. The Leake football team also won a state title this fall.
Senior and Northwest Mississippi Community College signee Samuel Prince had 22 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots, and junior Carter Seal had 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 assist to lead Leake Saturday against West Memphis.
“We just feel blessed,” fourth-year Leake head coach Jason Morgan said. “God has given us so much. We have good team chemistry, a really good work ethic, and a God who blesses our efforts every practice and every game. Our chemistry is really good. Early on, we went to scrimmage Jackson Prep. We played really well. In talking with the group after the scrimmage, sophomore Jalen Klootwyk said something I have remembered all season. ‘We like each other. We play hard for each other because we like each other.’ So that’s been a strength all year I think. I coach a very mentally tough group of kids. They are small at some positions and lack experience at others. But they make up for it by being so, so mentally tough. And toughness matters a lot in this sport.”
But winning the title wasn’t easy. In a back and forth game, it wasn’t decided until the buzzer when a potential tying 3-point attempt by West Memphis bounced off the rim.
“West Memphis got out to an early lead,” Morgan said. “From midway through the first quarter until halftime, we played really well. West Memphis made a hard run at us last half of the third. There was either a tie or a West Memphis lead at some point in the fourth. We had to cowboy up and get some big stops down the stretch to preserve the win. West Memphis is extremely talented. They were hard to guard and very fast down the floor on offense. They pushed us to our limit. When they started doubling Samuel or just trapping everybody everywhere, we did a good job of spacing the floor and taking care of the ball. Only one silly turnover in the last few minutes. We weren’t guarding well in the fourth quarter overall, so our offensive execution stepped up and helped us there.”
Leake missed a free throw with 14 seconds to go to set up the possible game-tying shot.
“We committed three really smart take fouls in those 14 seconds,” Morgan said. “By the time we committed the third and final foul, they had to inbound from their sideline with only two seconds left. The shot they got was a three pointer heaved maybe 6-8 feet behind the line.”
Prince was averaging 30.1 points per game going into last week’s tournament this season. He has a school record 3,320 points for his career entering this week. Prince passed Alex Shepard, who had 3,260 career points and graduated in 2015, earlier this season. Prince scored a career-high and school record 53 points in a 74-54 victory over Pillow Academy earlier this season. He also will finish with the school’s best scoring average for a season, breaking his father, Philip, record of 27.8 points per game during the 1992-93 season. Phillip led Leake to a state title in 1992. Alex Shepard led Leake to back to back state runner-up finishes to Simpson Academy in 2014 and 2015, the last time Leake played in the Overall tournament.
“Twenty-six years is a long time,” Prince said. “We knew from Day One Coach Morgan was building something. We all want things to come easy, but that’s not always how it goes. Each year we got better and better. We won district vs. Simpson a few years ago and that was a big mental deal since they crushed us for years. So looking back each step brought us here. West Memphis and Rossville were two foes that are well coached and really athletic. Winning North Half was once again a step but the main goal was state. To do it again most didn’t think we could. But Coach Morgan always prepares us. We were ready for the double teams and changes they could make because of a great coach. Plus, guys hit huge threes. Henley (Jenkins), Ryals (Wilkerson), and Jalen (Klootwyk) all hit timely threes. Carter Seal was dominant. He kept us in the game. Gage Warren’s defense alone was championship worthy. When I looked at my little brother after the win and he had tears in his eyes, that was the real trophy. Coach Morgan has changed the entire culture and Andrew is the future. That future is bright and he is a part of that. The excitement for us was a fantastic experience. All the guys who have helped build this over the years, this is their trophy, too. The fans that showed up were a big part of the win and cheered for us.”
The Leake, boys under the late Coach Larry Therrell, won five state titles in the 1970s, and Coach Phil Shepard guided the Rebels to three state titles in the 1990s. Therrell led Leake to its only two Overall titles in 1972 and 1977.
Now the newly crowned state champions will play in the Overall Tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton. Leake meets Class 4A, Division III champion Heritage Academy, Thursday at 6 p.m. in a first round game.
“Heritage is a good team,” Prince said. “They are well coached. We will plan like always and come out and play signature Leake defense. Execute on offense and see what happens.”
