It has been a roller coaster season for the Crane boys that will end with a chance to win the Class 2 State Championship.
The outcome is not one that anyone could have seen coming two months ago. From Dec. 9 to Jan. 21, the Pirates lost eight of nine games including six in a row to drop their record from 5-0 to 6-8.
“When we were losing games like that, (a state championship) was one of the last things on our minds. At the time we were trying to figure out what we could do to start winning games and get ourselves back on track. We still had that set as a goal to make it up here and play for a championship, but at that time it was still early on in the season we had to figure out what was best for us to do and what are roles were,” senior guard Dalton Hayes said.
Part of that dip in performance was due to Hayes missing time with an injury. The senior leads Crane in scoring with 13.7 points per game and is the unquestioned leader on the court.
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Instead of seeing the injury as a complete detriment, head coach Craig Campbell saw an opportunity.
“I told Dalton this when he got hurt, that it might pay off in the long run, and I think it has,” Campbell said. “It doesn’t matter who I put out on the floor, I feel like they are going to step up and make a play when we need it.”
Those losses pushed Crane from the conversations of potential state champion for many people, which only served as more fuel in the locker room.
“One thing that motivated us was that a lot of people looked at us as under the radar as a team,” Hayes said.
Making plays when it matters has been the hallmark of the Crane Pirates through this entire run that has included a three-point district semifinal win over Billings and matching one-point wins over Marionville in the district title game and Greenwood in the quarterfinals.
Each game has been a team effort, which is a mentality that took over late in the season as has propelled the Pirates to the precipice of a state championship.
“A few games before districts we decided all of the sudden that we are going to play for each other instead of playing for ourselves,” Campbell said.
“Just a few games before districts I knew we really started to click and that mentality of we have to win now, it is win or go home, kind of clicked with us,” Senior post Deven White said.
White & Hayes were both on the team that finished third place in 2015 when they were sophomores. The urgency is a little greater for the two this time around in the Final Four.
“Being a senior you kind of want it a little bit more and it means a little bit more,” White said. “I’m not nearly as nervous as I was the first time. I have kind of settled down a bit.”
Now Crane will face off with a fellow unranked team in Oran. Oran knocked off defending state champion Hartville in the quarterfinals and beat Sacred Heart 64-59 in the semifinals.
“They (Oran) are a pretty good shooting team. If they get hot, they get hot. They never quit is what he (Hartville coach Brett Reed) told us,” Campbell said. “Watching them it showed. They hit some big shots and did a good job controlling the tempo.”
Crane (20-10) will face Oran (22-8) at 6:20 p.m. on Saturday in Columbia at Mizzou Arena for the Class 2 State Championship.
