BAINBRIDGE — They were expecting a basketball war and got one.

Bainbridge, that is.

One of the oldest adages in sports is that it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. Bainbridge may have won the first two meetings, the last one in heart-wrenching fashion, stealing a game Cairo led by 10 with four minutes to play.

But this one was for all the marbles, the Region 1-AAAA marbles, that is.

And the hurt of letting that last one get away burned in the hearts of the Syrupmakers.

Man, did it show.

At the half, Cairo was up by nine, but it wasn’t necessarily a comfortable nine.

They were in Bainbridge remember.

And when Bainbridge came roaring at them as the third quarter opened, a Reggie Adams 3-pointer capping a mini-spurt that cut the lead to four, 37-33, an overflowing Bainbridge crowd knew what was coming next.

Only they didn’t.

The whippet-like Cairo Syrupmakers, playing with a fury that was something to see, only poured it on like it was a layup drill at supersonic speed.

Zang! Here’s a Micalvin Hammonds layup. Zang! Here’s a Clifford Hammonds lay-in. Zang! Here’s Van Williams, chasing a deflected ball like an errant pinball, picking it up and driving the length of the floor for a layup that had Bearcat coach Jeff Page screaming for a time out as the lead climbed to 20. Then higher.

Say it, Syrupmakers. You’re Region 1-AAAA champions. Cairo’s overwhelming 79-43 win over Bainbridge crowned Isiah Chance’s club as kings of Region 1-AAAA.

“The kids, they really wanted it tonight,” Chance said. “We came out and played our game and everybody played well. Everybody.”

“What can you say?” a shell-shocked Bainbridge coach Jeff Page said afterwards. “They were on tonight and they just were hitting on all cylinders. They were hitting from outside, attacking the basket. They went small and quick and we just didn’t have an answer for it.”

And to really make it sting, just as the third quarter was ending, two now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t steals and layups by Van Williams — they looked like one black and red blur — in the final 10 seconds stretched Cairo’s edge to an improbable, impossible, dare we say, delightful 26!

Bainbridge never threatened again.

In the first half, it looked as if fans of both teams could settle in for another barnburner. Cairo’s Micalvin Hammonds continued his hot shooting, helping the Syrupmakers get off to a quick start.

Micalvin bagged 10 of Cairo’s 16 first-quarter points, which were offset by some super outside shooting from Bainbridge’s pesky Reggie Adams, who hit a pair of 3’s and had eight points. It was 16-15, Cairo after one.

Cairo spurted ahead some in the second quarter, fueled by back-to-back three-pointers from the unsually quiet Martez McIntyre.

Cairo’s speed and quickness seemed to make a difference down the stretch and the Syrupmakers galloped out to a 37-28 halftime edge.

But Bainbridge, deadly as ever, stung right back on another Adams’ 3-pointer as the third quarter opened and a quick Bearcat flurry cut it to 37-33 before drives from Clifford and Micalvin Hammonds stretched it back to eight and a spectacular Van Williams layup made it a 10-point edge, 43-33 at the five-minute mark.

Then Cairo took over and ran the Bearcats into the ground. The region title was theirs.



CAIRO 16 21 25 17 – 79

BAINBRIDGE 15 13 8 7 – 43



CAIRO (79) Clifford Hammonds 26, Micalvin Hammond 19, Van Williams 10, Martez McIntyre 14, Sadarian Williams 5, Ahmad Ellison 2.



BAINBRIDGE (43) Parris 2, Jones 3, Gamble 1, Adams 15, Mitchell 4, Estes 6, Jackson 10.