It seems only fitting, with East Carter preparing for its second trip to the Boys’ State Tournament this week, that we jump back into the Wayback Machine one more time for a look at the Raiders other championship season.

Turn the clock back to 1986 but keep a Baker on the sidelines.

Charles Baker — the father of current East Carter coach Brandon Baker — was coaching the Raiders and the program was on the verge of a breakthrough. Twice, in 1982 and 1983, Baker had guided East Carter to the regional finals and twice came away disappointed. It was time to get over the hump.

Baker’s Raiders did just that and became one of its most memorable champions.

East Carter did it the hard way, winning an overtime game with Rowan County in the opener and then winning an exhausting four-overtime game against Boyd County in the semifinals. In the championship, the Raiders found a way to slow down upstart Morgan County for a 76-66 victory.

The celebration was on and it was a long time coming. Since the east side of Carter County began playing in regional tournaments in 1922, several teams had made it to the finals but none advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Prichard (Grayson) lost in five region finals, Hitchins one and Carter High one. East Carter had been to the finals three times, once under Doc Murphy and twice under Baker, but finished runner-up each time.

The road to get the first title certainly wasn’t an easy one. The tournament was considered wide open, much like the 2010 version.

East Carter trailed Rowan County 47-41 in the opening game with two minutes remaining. But junior sharpshooter Curt Ferguson forced overtime with a 15-footer off the baseline — a play designed by assistant coach Hager Easterling — and the Raiders went on to win 66-60.

Ferguson was East Carter’s designated shooter and the call went to him. Charles Baker was talking with the officials when Easterling put the play in motion.

It was a game that the Raiders won with balance as George Adams scored 16, sophomore Brandon Baker 14 and Ferguson and Vernon Evans 13 apiece.

Rowan County had the opportunity to lock up the win but missed some crucial free throws.

Boyd County and Greenup County met in the first round. The Lions and Musketeers had combined to win the past five championships so this was a clash of region titans. It was a typical Roger Zornes-Randy Ward defensive battle with the Lions winning it 44-41 as Greg Wheeler swished two free throws to seal it.

It was in 1986 that the jump ball was replaced with alternating possessions. That came into play in the Boyd-Greenup game. With the Lions leading 42-41, a jump ball was called. The possession arrow went to Boyd and Wheeler was fouled. He stepped to the line and made both shots. Mark Fannin scored 18 for the Lions, whose roster also included Brace Stai.

In the other opening-round games, Ashland defeated Russell 68-67 as Shawn Conley’s two free throws locked up the win late. It was the Tomcats’ 17th consecutive victory over Russell. Rece Ryan scored 28 points.

Russell sophomore Chris Jones scored 21 and Steven Day collected 15 points and seven assists. Day is the father of Fairview star Kayla Day.

Morgan County raced past West Carter 72-56 to snap an 18-year regional tournament drought. The Cougars hadn’t won since 1968 and endured 11 consecutive first-round defeats before the win over the Comets.

This team was different and in high gear for coach George Bellamy. Chris Fraley scored 22 and 5-foot-6 Keith Hembree had 13. That guard combo would prove to be lethal in the regional tournament.

In the semifinals, East Carter defeated Boyd County 60-59 in what is still the longest game in region tournament history. It was Ferguson as the star again, scoring 15 with 13 coming in the last quarter and four overtimes. But there were many other stars, including George Adams, Vernon Evans and Brandon Baker, who fouled out in the second overtime. The versatile Adams, along with Kerrick Dyer and Ferguson, took over the ballhandling duties from Baker and the Raiders survived. It was East’s third victory over Boyd County that season.

Morgan County stunned Ashland 83-71 in the other semifinal as Fraley and Hembree scored 23 apiece. The Tomcats simply couldn’t keep pace with the quick guards. Joe Avila scored 21 and Ryan 18 for coach Craynor Slone’s last Ashland team.

The Cougars were on a roll. They shot 64 percent against the Tomcats and were averaging 88.3 points in their past 15 games.

It would be the first time since 1965, when Clark County defeated Mt. Sterling 54-51, that there wasn’t either a 63rd or 64th District team in the finals.

East Carter, a disciplined team that made few mistakes (sound familiar?), would have its hands full in the finals even though the Raiders had a 3-0 record against the Cougars.

Baker had been there before and that mattered.

The Raiders weathered Morgan County’s fast start. The Cougars led 24-20 when East Carter went on a 15-0 run and never trailed again.

The Raiders were balanced with George Adams collecting 20 points and eight rebounds, Dyer scoring 16, Baker getting 13 points and nine assists and Joe Sargent, later to become Charles Baker’s son-in-law, scoring 10. It was typical East Carter basketball. The Raiders didn’t make mistakes (only eight turnovers) and made free throws (20 of 21).

The victory came on the 17th birthday of Charles Baker’s daughter Maria, who was also his scorekeeper. East Carter’s regional title last week came on Brandon Baker’s 40th birthday.

As in the case most of the time, there was some controversy with the tournament awards. George Adams, who had averaged 15.3 points and six rebounds, was talked about like a candidate for MVP on press row. But not only did the Raider not win the MVP award — that went to Hembree — he didn’t even make the all-tournament team.

But the Raiders had done what they accomplished.

East Carter went on to play 29-1 Paducah Tilghman in the State Tournament and fell 73-57. The Raiders were in the game until Baker fouled out with 5:48 remaining. The score was 49-48 at the time and Paducah rattled off 10 consecutive points for a 59-48 advantage.

The Blue Tornado’s 16-point final margin was the biggest of the game. Evans scored 28 points and Baker 10. Another sophomore named Jack Calhoun, now an assistant coach at East, made an impact, too, and would join Brandon in the Raider backcourt the next two seasons.

East Carter didn’t win in the Sweet 16, but becoming champions of the 16th Region was a big step for a program that had done everything but that under Charles Baker’s guidance.

It was a year Raider fans will never forget, much like the one they’re experiencing now.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.