By Chris Parker
The 2023 Bass Pro Tournament of Champions title game was a battle befitting two of the top five teams in the nation.
Link Academy came out on top of Sunrise Christian 72-66 to claim the program’s first Bass Pro Tournament of Champions title in just the second year of existence for the program.
“What a battle. Those teams just battled each other from start to finish, back and forth. That was a lot of talent on that floor,” Link Academy head coach Bill Armstrong said. “In the pregame, we talked about fighting for 32 minutes. That it was going to be a fight for 32 minutes and we had to fight, fight, fight for 32 minutes and that is what we did. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
Link Academy came into the game looking to make a statement in front of the 9,773 fans watching the game in person at Great Southern Bank Arena and for all others watching on ESPN+.
“Our mindset this whole year is that we are the best team in the country,” University of North Carolina commit Elliot Cadeau said. “A lot of other people don’t think that, so that make it even better for us. That makes us hungrier. Our mindset coming into the game is to prove the whole country wrong. Prove that everybody that thinks Sunrise is better than us, to prove them wrong.”
Link Academy came out of the gate a little sluggish with a rough first quarter.
Link couldn’t get anything going in the first eight minutes shooting 4-for-14 from the field (28.6%). Sunrise’s defense had a big part in that forcing five turnovers for Link Academy in the quarter. The Buffaloes were an efficient 5-for-10 (50%) from the field in the first quarter on the way to an 11-10 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, shots started falling for Link Academy, as the Lions created offense from defense. They forced six Sunrise Christian turnovers in the quarter which led to 10 of their 21 points in the frame.
Elliot Cadeau was a catalyst for Link Academy in the second quarter with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting along with two assists and a steal.
Sunrise Christian still shot well in the second quarter going 4-for-9 (44.4%), but the turnovers sent the Buffaloes to a 31-25 deficit at the half.
Both teams came out of the locker room on fire matching each other shot-for-shot. Link Academy scored 17 points on 6-for-10 (60%) shooting while Sunrise matched those 17 points on 7-for-12 (58.3%) shooting.
Matas Buzelis kept Sunrise Christian afloat in the third quarter scoring 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting including two three-pointers.
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Link Academy carried a 48-42 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Sunrise would not go away. The Buffaloes had an answer every time Link Academy tried to make a run.
Sunrise Christian cut the lead to four points several times in the quarter, but the key moment came on back-to-back defensive plays.
With 57.1 seconds left in the game, Sunrise Christian stole the ball under Link Academy’s basket with a chance to cut the Lions’ lead to two, but Cadeau stepped in to take a charge and erase the basket. Cameron Carr hit one free throw on the ensuing possession to turn what was on the way to being a two-point advantage for Link Academy to five.
“I turned that ball over, so I really wanted the ball back and we needed the ball back,” Cadeau said. “I saw he was out of control, so I just got in position and took the charge. I don’t think that was anything special because I am the one who gave him the ball; I just got it back.”
Sunrise Christian would never get closer than four points the rest of the way as Link Academy would hold of for its first Bass Pro Tournament of Champions title.
Armstrong hopes this tournament run will catapult Link Academy to the front of the minds of sports fans in southwest Missouri.
“My hope is that they (sports fans in southwest Missouri) embrace Link Academy as their team. I want them to embrace us. When we play games around this area come out and watch these guys and see the hard work that they put in,” Armstrong said. “Hopefully they were able to see the talent that these guys have; how fun they are to watch; how they play together; how they connected they are. I hope that through these three days that everybody here, everybody that came to the game, everybody that saw it on television, everybody in southwest Missouri can see that and will embrace these guys and make us their team. That is what I hope.”
Link Academy had three players named to the all-tournament team including Cadeau, Cade Phillips and tournament MVP Ja’Kobe Walter.
“He (Walter) is a senior who has been in really big games, and he knew what this was all about and came out from the tip Thursday night and gave us everything he had,” Armstrong said. “He is an ambassador of this sport in my opinion. He deserves everything that he gets. Every accolade that he gets and hopefully he will get a whole lot more because he certainly deserves them with his work ethic.”
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The atmosphere all weekend helped propel both Walter, a Baylor commit, and his teammates.
“That was incredible. I have never played in any situation like that. I think my teammates can agree during the intros when they turned off the lights and everybody was cheering; we’ve never seen something like that. I think that got all of us juiced up and I think we proved it on the court.”
Walter scored a team-high 17 points in the win for Link Academy. Cadeau was just behind him with 16 points and eight assists. Carr also scored in double figures with 13 points.
Buzelis, who is committed to play for the G-League Ignite, led all scorers with 24 points for Sunrise Christian.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Ja’Kobe Walter – Link (MVP)
Elliot Cadeau – Link Academy
Cade Phillips – Link Academy
Layden Blocker – Sunrise Christian
Miro Little – Sunrise Christian
Brandon Gardner – Christ the King
Carl Cherenfont – Calvary Christian
Brayden Shorter – Kickapoo
Javar Daniel – Bartlett
Nojus Idrusaitis – St. Rita
Kyan Evans – Staley
