By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
CHADWICK — Grady Preston’s first three seasons in a Chadwick uniform ended with a loss to South Iron. The senior guard did quite a bit Tuesday to make sure his Cardinals finale wasn’t another loss to the Panthers.
Preston scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to power Chadwick to a 47-41 Class 1 sectional triumph against three-time defending Class 1 state champion South Iron.
“All year (as a senior) you’re thinking about when it’s going to be your last game,” Preston said. “This one felt like it could have been. But now we get to come back here and play again.”
All of the Cardinals had grown far too weary of seeing post-season runs end at the hands of South Iron. This was the fourth straight season the teams met at sectionals. In the previous three meetings, the Panthers won by margins of three, 13 and 32 points.
“I’ve been waiting to beat them since my freshman year,” guard Tristan Smith said.
“My sophomore year, my freshman year and the year before that they beat us,” forward Clayton Garrison said. “They’ve been on our minds the entire season. We wanted this one. This means a lot. We did it for those guys (former teammates), too.”
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Given the aura surrounding South Iron as the state’s winningest boys program over the past five seasons with 137 victories (Hartville is second with 132), the Cardinals emphasized getting off to a good start.
They couldn’t have asked for much more by jumping out to leads of 7-0, 11-4 and 20-9.
“We knew we had to stay with them the first five minutes,” Garrison said. “We showed we could play with them.”
Chadwick’s full-court pressure gave South Iron fits initially. The Panthers committed six turnovers in the opening quarter, before settling down.
South Iron (27-2) turned the game around primarily in the third quarter. The Panthers enjoyed a 26-5 run over a 13-minute stretch to build a 35-25 lead a couple minutes into the fourth quarter.
Of Chadwick’s nine turnovers on the night, five came in the third quarter.
“We kind of got comfortable with our lead and we were holding the ball too much,” Garrison said “They got steals and easy buckets.”
“They kept turning us over,” Smith said. “One mistake led to another and we got down on ourselves a little bit.”
Alas, the game turned completely around again. After scoring 25 points during the first 26-plus minutes, Chadwick exploded for 22 points over the final 5:15.
The Cardinals’ full-court pressure triggered the uprising. They forced South Iron to turn the ball over four more times, upping the Panthers’ turnover total to 15.
“To be able to turn around a 10-point deficit against a team like that and come back and win is something really special,” Smith said.
“We turned them over a lot on our press,” Garrison said. “That’s how we got most of our buckets.”
“Good defense led to good offense,” Preston said.
Preston had a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to cap his 17-point night. Smith hit one 3 while adding seven points in the fourth quarter and finishing with a dozen.
Garrison collected 14 points, seven rebounds and most telling, seven blocked shots.
Chadwick (26-3), which was the No. 3 seed in Class 1 District 4 last week, advances to the quarterfinal round. The Cardinals will again be at home versus Richland (23-7) at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Richland beat Clarkton (10-19) by a 48-33 count Tuesday.
Chadwick 47, South Iron 41
SOUTH IRON (41) — Harlow 2 0-0 5, S. Huff 5 3-4 14, Burse 3 3-4 9, H. Huff 2 2-2 6, Malone 3 1-2 7.
CHADWICK (47) — Preston 6 2-4 17, Rogers 1 0-0 2, Kinyon 1 0-0 2, Smith 4 2-2 12, Garrison 6 2-2 14.
South Iron 4 10 16 11 – 41
Chadwick 14 8 3 22 – 47
3-point goals – Preston 3, Smith 2, S.Huff, Harlow.
