Going into the season, Lexington basketball coach Bailey Harris had several questions.

Could five-foot-four Sheldon Everett adjust to being a starter?

Would it work to start three point guards on the court at the same time, and would the smaller lineup be effective?

Would players like Will Clarke develop and be able to make plays at crunch time?

Could he get by with having two freshmen and a sophomore in the playing rotation?

The team had reached the finals the year before, so the expectations were there, but still those questions nagged at the coach.

They were all answered with a resounding “yes’’ last Friday when the Wildcats won the Class AAAA state championship.

“I think the expectations were there, and we responded to the challenge. It has been an unbelievable experience,’’ Harris said.

Most teams dream of getting to the state championship game. Lexington has been there four out of the last five years, and has won two state championships. What makes it amazing is the lack of star quality players.

In 1996 the team won the state championship with proven talented players. The team had two all-state players in Tim Heskett and Tyson Bouknight, and Tyron Wright was a big player and one of the best defensive players in the state. No one was really surprised when that team reached the state finals.

This year’s edition had some proven talent in all-state selection Ben Ryan, along with seniors Arnold Screen and Everett. Still there were questions.

Heskett and Wright are the only Division 1 college players Harris has coached, and the coach believes often his players get overlooked because of their lack of athleticism.

“College scouts get too caught up in a player’s size, vertical leap or athleticism. Our players are very skilled,’’ he said.

For example, at 6-1, Screen was often able to out-rebound much taller players. Lexington was always shorter than its opposition, but often the team still controlled rebounding.

“Rebounding has more to do with aggressiveness and skill than it does with size,’’ Harris said.

Another trademark for Lexington is shooting. The team has good shooters because the players work hard on their skills in that area.

“Our players are often more skilled than teams that have better athletes. We handle the ball, we pass well and we have good shooters. That all comes in the off-season. All of my players work hard to improve their skills,’’ Harris said.

Even though the team is skilled, and confident in its system, it still had to beat some pretty good teams.

“We were fortunate. You have to be fortunate. We could have lost any of our four playoff games,’’ Harris said.

The main reason they didn’t lose them was that different players made key plays late in each game.

In the first game, against Greenwood, Ryan and Everett had big games, and Alex Spotts gave the team a huge lift off the bench in the fourth quarter.

In the second game against Mauldin Screen scored a career high 17, and Demetrius Summers scored five points in overtime.

In the Upper State finals against Dorman Lexington erased a seven point deficit with four minutes left with Clarke hitting two big baskets late and Summers tipping in a Clarke miss with three seconds left.

Then in the finals, Blake Sistare scored a carreer high 20 points.

“That is just the kind of season it was. Our character showed through, and we were fortunate,’’ Harris said.

Throughout the playoffs, Lexington’s boys basketball team was able to take advantage of other teams. That carried them all the way to the title Friday night, as they repeatedly victimized Marlboro County in a 61-57 win that gave the Wildcats the state Class AAAA championship.

Lexington is known as an outside shooting team, but in the state finals the team found a way to get easy layups that built a 13-point lead late in the second quarter.

Marlboro County mounted a rally late, and got to within two twice, but the Wildcats held on for the victory.

Coach Bailey Harris said in watching film, he noticed that that Marlboro County’s center tended to come up to help on perimter shots. That led him to believe his own post player could get open under the basket.

That tidbit paid off, as center Blake Sistare was repeatedly open for layups, scoring 16 of his career-high 20 points, in the first half.Sistare scored the first 12 points the Wildcats had in the second quarter.

Guards Ben Ryan or Sheldon Everett would make a move to either drive or shoot, and when the Marlboro County center came to help, they were able to fire passes to Sistare under the basket for easy layups.

The Wildcats hit only one three-pointer in the first half, and repeatedly went instead for the inside shot.

Harris noted that it is hard for teams to shoot at the Coliseum because teams are not used to the depth perception problems unique to that facility.

“We thought we would try to work it inside especially early, so we could get some confidence in our shots,’’ he said.

Marlboro County did mount a rally in the second quarter and trimmed the lead to 29-22, but Everett turned in four points in the final moments of the half to put Lexington ahead 33-22.

It was more of the same for Lexington in the third, as Ryan scored off a steal, and Will Clarke scored to put Lexington ahead 37-24.

Marlboro County reeled off seven unanswered points to get to within six, and later in the quarter trimmed the lead to four.

Lexington managed to lead 47-40 going into the final quarter.

With two quick steals and baskets to start the final quarter, Marlboro County cut the deficit to three quickly.

Everett sank a three, and Sistare scored again to put the lead back at eight. This scenario was repeated several times throughout the game.

With a minute and a half left, Marlboro County cut the deficit to three and had the ball.

Arnold Screen stole the ball and moments later it two foul shots to put the lead back at five.

The lead got cut back to three, and twice Marlboro County had shots at tying the game.

Lexington’s defense held them off and Clarke hit three of four foul shots in the final 16 seconds to seal the win.

Harris credited the team with executing the plays, the guards with making the passes inside to Sistare and with Sistare finishing off the plays.

“The character of this team came out. We had different guys step up in each of the playoff games. It is just incredible,’’ Harris said.

Sistare said the plan to get the ball inside worked out just as Harris had predicted. He said Marlboro County adjusted to that a bit in the second half, but he had confidence the team could hang on.

Ryan, who made several of those passes to Sistare, said he wanted to finish his senior season strong.

He felt he had not played well in last year’s state championship game.

“This is a great feeling. I wanted to play good and go out a winner in my senior season,’’ he said.

Screen called the win “just awesome.’’

He said his team was able to take advantage of the defense leaving the backside open.

“I thought we had a better chance coming in this year to the championship game than we did last year,’’ he said, recalling the loss in the finals last year.

Everett said “all our work has paid off. At Christmas we were 6-5 and going nowhere. We worked things out and climbed the rest of the way. We knew they would make a run at us but we were confident in our foul shooting.’’

Lexington won the state championship in 1996, returned in ’97 and ’99, and won its second title in five years in the game last Friday.