‘Find a way to win.’ Great Crossing stops Douglass rally to repeat as 11th Region champs
For the second year in a row, the boys 11th Region Tournament championship game came down to a shot at the horn in front of a near-capacity crowd at Paul Laurence Dunbar’s S.T. Roach Sports Center.
Last year at this same stage in the same gym, Great Crossing’s Vince Dawson nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to claim victory.
This year, the Warhawks had to defend a potential game-winning shot with time running out.
The horn sounded as Tate Robinson’s 3-point heave from the right wing over two Great Crossing defenders left his fingertips. The shot caromed off the front left of the rim to give the Warhawks a breathtaking 59-57 win and their second straight region title.
“It was crazy but you always have to find a way to win,” said Malachi Moreno, the 6-foot-10 Kentucky signee who was named the tournament’s most valuable player after his game-high 21 points to go with 13 rebounds and eight blocks. “You’ve always got to play through it. Everybody played great. It took all 14 of us, all the coaches, everybody in the community to get that win.”
Douglass had the ball underneath its own basket after Aveion Chenault’s free-throw miss tumbled out of bounds off a Great Crossing player with 4.6 seconds left. But Douglass didn’t have any timeouts left and though Great Crossing coach Steve Page could have taken one, he didn’t.
Great Crossing seniors Gage Richardson and Jamari Mason perfectly defended an inbounds exchange between Douglass’ Dakari Talbert and Robinson and both rose to challenge Robinson’s high-arcing 3-pointer as the horn sounded.
“We didn’t want them to make any 3s. Just get your hands up and make him take a tough shot,” said Great Crossing point guard LJ Holman, whose two free throws with 20 seconds left had staked the Warhawks to a 59-55 lead before Chenault’s putback trimmed it back to two. “If it goes in, like, it’s a great shot, but you don’t want to foul and you don’t want to give them free throws.”
Great Crossing looked to be running away with the championship after a 16-4 run that began in the third quarter and included points from six different players, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Mason and Richardson, a follow slam by Moreno, a Brady Orem putback and a Vince “Trey” Dawson III layup. The run coincided with a total of nine missed 3-pointers by the Broncos as they tried to keep pace.
LJ Holman converted a layup and foul shot to put Great Crossing up by 13, 54-41 with 4:02 to play. That sent a number of fans heading for the exits.
Then came the Broncos’ furious 15-4 rally over the final four minutes.
While Douglass made only 4-of-25 3-point attempts, three came in the fourth quarter. And Douglass dominated Great Crossing on the boards, finishing with a 42-32 rebounding edge with a whopping 22 offensive rebounds.
The once high-flying Warhawks foundered a bit, committing six turnovers and missing six free throws down the stretch.
“We didn’t rebound, and we had a couple of kids that were shaky with the ball,” Great Crossing’s Page explained. “Then we didn’t make our free throws. So, I mean, that’s a recipe for disaster right there.”
When Talbert banked in a 3-pointer in transition to cut Great Crossing’s lead to 57-55 with 58 seconds left, the game was back on.
But Douglass missed its next two shot attempts and Holman’s free throws pushed the Great Crossing lead to 59-55 with 20 seconds left.
On the next Douglass possession, Chenault grabbed his fifth offensive rebound and got fouled on his made putback, trimming the Warhawks’ edge to 59-57 with 6.6 seconds to go and setting up the game’s improbable final sequence.
“My guys left it all on the court,” first-year Douglass coach Murray Garvin said. “It came down to one possession. We had 22 offensive rebounds, but it was hard to capitalize on those with Malachi in the middle. He’s a Mickey D’s All-American for a reason. Eight blocked shots really impacted us offensively.”
Chenault and Surratt led Douglass with 14 points each. Dakari Talbert added 10. Douglass struggled to make shots inside and out, making only 33 percent from the field.
“If you would have told me that we shoot 33% from the field and have a chance to win it at the buzzer, I would have said, no way,” Garvin said.
Dawson finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists as Great Crossing’s only other player in double figures. Holman finished with seven points and five assists.
Next, Great Crossing heads to Rupp Arena for the UK Healthcare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 state tournament where it will open against 3rd Region champion Daviess County.
Last year, Great Crossing entered the tourney as the state’s No. 1 team only to lose in the semifinals to eventual champion Lyon County. This year, the Warhawks were the overwhelming preseason No. 1, but lost 72-58 to St. Xavier in Louisville on Dec. 15 and has been ranked second to the Tigers ever since.
“We’re not going in as the favorite. St. X will. So, hopefully, we can do the same thing to them that happened to us last year,” Page said. “We’ve just got to go play. We can’t be focused on what comes at the end. Obviously, we hope we get to that point.”
Next game
Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 first round at Rupp Arena
6 p.m. March 27: Great Crossing (31-4) vs. Daviess County (25-6)
