A two-point loss early in the season to Milton was on the minds of Wheeler players as they took the floor in Buford Saturday for a rematch.
But there was much more riding on this one, in the Class 7A Georgia High School Association boys semifinals.
The Wildcats led from wire-to-wire, and by double digits for most of the way, in exacting revenge on Milton in a 59-47 win.
In doing so, they now have a chance to win the seventh state title in school history.
Next Saturday, Wheeler will play either Grayson or McEachern in Macon.
Later Saturday afternoon at Fort Valley State, the Kell girls remained undefeated and reached the state finals for the first time ever with a 60-55 victory over Eagle’s Landing.
After reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2015 on Wednesday in a quarterfinal win over Berkmar, Wheeler can end a five-year trophy drought with one more win.
Sam Hines Jr. scored 19 points for the Wildcats, who once again played stifling defense in holding their opponent to under 50 points for the second game in a row.
Bruce Thornton had a game-high 28 points for Milton, but Wheeler had more contributors on offense.
Wheeler pulled away in the second quarter. Hines scored on a dunk to make the score 22-14, then A.J. Burke and Prince Davies made 3-point shots for a 28-16 score.
Later in the quarter, Hines cut to the baseline, took a pass and threw down another dunk to give Wheeler a 32-20 advantage.
He had 12 points at halftime, and scored only two points in the third quarter, but the Wildcats got a 3-point basket from Maxwell Harris to lead 43-26.
Milton trailed by 11 points at the start of the fourth quarter, but never put together enough of a run to threaten Wheeler from there.
The Kell girls were 31-0 on the season coming in to Saturday’s game, led from the opening moments, built a double-digit lead in the second half but had to hang on in the closing seconds.
Kell’s freshman star, Crystal Henderson, tossed in a desperation shot at the halftime buzzer to give the Lady Longhorns a 27-24 lead.
Eagle’s Landing hung around for much of the third quarter, but Henderson provided a spark when she headed down the court on the break, dribbled between her legs and passed to Amaya Moss for an easy basket.
Kell’s lead was 37-32 at that point, and Henderson drained a 3-point shot, followed by Makyah Favors with another 3, and the score was 42-34.
After Kell missed a free throw, Henderson got the rebound, put the ball back up and in the basket for two more points for a 47-34 lead.
Eagle’s Landing called timeout after that, and climbed back in the fourth quarter.
Kell nearly squandered its lead as Eagle’s Landing fought back to trail 57-55 with 40 seconds left.
Then Henderson was fouled, and she made one of two free throws. The Eagles nearly tied it up the other way, but the shot rimmed out and Kell got possession.
Henderson made two free throws with a second left, for a game-high 25 points, to clinch the win for the Lady Longhorns.
Next Friday, Kell will play Buford for the state title, also in Macon.
In the Class 5A boys semifinals on Saturday, Kell was playing in its first state semifinal game, against Dutchtown, also in Fort Valley.
The Longhorns couldn’t hold on to an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and were forced into overtime. Then Dutchtown got the upper hand early in the extra period and held on for a 62-56 win.
Kell’s best-ever season ended with a 26-6 record.
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