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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – With four of the five starters returning from the most successful boys basketball team in school history, Norwood began this season with goals of going even farther.
Garrett Davault made sure they did.
The Evangel commit led all scorers with 39 points and hauled in a game-high eight rebounds as the Pirates advanced to a state championship game for the first time in program history with their 59-55 victory over Bishop LeBlond (St. Joseph) in a Class 2 semifinal on Friday at JQH Arena.
The Pirates, who sit atop the Class 2 state rankings, improved to 30-1 and will face seventh-ranked Bernie (29-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday in the same building for the state title.
Regardless of the outcome, the Pirates have already topped the accomplishments of last year’s record-setting team that reached the program’s first Final Four but fell in the semifinals and finished third. Davault, who heads a nine-player senior class, ensured that wouldn’t happen again.
Averaging 23.8 points per game through the end of the district tournament, the all-state selection shot 12-of-14 from the floor and 15-of-19 from the free-throw line to grant the Pirates a title shot.
“At the end of the day, he wants to win,” Norwood coach Shane Chadwell said. “It’s as simple as that. He’ll do whatever it takes. If that means he has to get 39, he’ll get 39. If that means he has to settle for 15, he will. The bigger the stage, he often rises to the occasion.”
And there’s no bigger stage than the one the Pirates now stand on.
Norwood has a chance to secure the school’s first state championship in any boys team sport. The Pirates won the 1991 softball state championship and added a girls basketball title in 1994.
“We played for third place last year. It was an honor and you’re happy to be here, but we felt like coming into this our experience would help us,” Chadwell said. “These kids, they wanted it from day one. We beefed up our schedule to try to help us get here – and it takes a lot of luck to get here. There are a lot of good teams that don’t make it and we’re fortunate and blessed to be here.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
With an enrollment of just 88 – eight students above the class floor level – the Pirates were, by far, the smallest Class 2 school to reach the Final Four. They did it by cruising through a schedule that included out-of-class teams like Webb City, Strafford, Willow Springs and two-time defending state champion Hartville. Norwood’s only loss came to Thayer, who placed third in Class 3.
“We had a tough district. Tough sectionals. Tough quarterfinals. We had to fight our whole way here,” said senior Justin Chadwell, who added four points. “We did it this year. We’ve pulled out. We’ve done good. We just have to finish it out tomorrow.”
Bernie, which sits 30 miles southeast of Poplar Bluff, and Norwood both enter the championship game riding 20-game win streaks. The Mules beat Putnam County in the other semifinal Friday.
“They’re athletic,” Shane Chadwell said. “They’re strong. They’re physical. They have a lot of weapons. They get up and press you. We have to bring our A-Game and we have to look better than we did today. We’re going to have our hands full tomorrow with Bernie.”
For much of the first three quarters, the Pirates looked to be well on their way to a victory.
They opened the game with an 8-0 run and held Bishop Leblond (20-11) to just 20 points on 33.3 percent shooting in the first half. Davault had 21 by himself over that stretch as the Pirates took a 29-20 lead into the locker room.
“I think we had like 10 films on Bishop and they played man (defense) every single time,” Davault said. “Down where we play, we haven’t been played man probably 10, 15 games. And I love getting played man, because it’s one-on-one a lot. I did what it took.”
Davault added seven more points in the third quarter as Norwood’s lead swelled to 10 points entering the final frame. But the Golden Eagles began that quarter with a 16-2 run and took their first lead of the night with 3:29 left in regulation.
“We’ve kind of had a bad habit of letting teams hang around,” Shane Chadwell said. “It’ll eventually catch you – and it almost did tonight. But, again, we’re a senior-led team. Trust your players. They found a way to win.”
Trailing 53-49 with just over two minutes to play, Davault hit four straight free throws in a 34-second span to knot the score. He then drove to the basket and made a highlight-reel pass to Justin Chadwell, who put the Pirates back on top for good.
“We told (Davault) in one of those last timeouts that you have to trust your teammates,” Shane Chadwell said. “They’re going to start focusing on you. Trust them and they’ll come through for you. They have all year. And late in the game, they did.”
Neither side made a field goal the rest of the night, as they traded free-throws in the final moments.
The Golden Eagles had two separate opportunities to tie the game – including one with 16.7 seconds remaining – but split their free-throws on each of them.
Davault hit a pair with 13.3 seconds left to put Norwood up 58-55 and Bishop LeBlond came up empty on its next possession. The Golden Eagles sent Norwood’s Jacob Sinning to the line with 5.5 seconds remaining and he nailed his first attempt, essentially putting the game out of reach.
“After Jacob got those two free throws, I knew that if he made one it was over for sure,” Davault said. “He did his job and it was exciting. As soon as he hit that free-throw, I knew it was over.”
Gavin McGraw added 11 points for Norwood, which won despite attempting just one 3-pointer all night – and missing it. The Pirates also played the final two minutes without any remaining timeouts, burning through them during Bishop LeBlond’s monumental fourth-quarter run.
“We had to try to stop the bleeding somehow,” Shane Chadwell said. “You want to take some late in the game with you, but you have to get there first.”
The message during one of those final timeouts was simple.
“We didn’t make it this far to lose a 15-point lead,” Shane Chadwell said. “We played for third last year and it was an honor to be here and win that, but we wanted to play for the championship.”
And now they will.
NORWOOD 17 12 16 14 – 59
BISHOP LEBLOND 13 17 15 20 — 55
