By Chris Parker
Things looked bleak for Chadwick late in the Cardinals’ state semifinal game against Green City.
They trailed by as many as eight points in the second half, but came back to tie the game at 49-49 with 15 seconds left. Green City had the ball with the chance to hold for the last shot.
Chadwick was facing the prospect of overtime being a best-case scenario.
Until they weren’t.
Chadwick’s pressure defense answered the bell as it did throughout the second half.
Afte ball was inbounded, Grady Preston pressured the Green City ball handler.
“I was just trying to play defense like I had all year just trying not to let them get an easy bucket,” Preston said. “Just sit down and play good defense and hope the next guy could get the steal.”
That pressure led to Mason Rogers picking the ball off for a steal.
He passed it off to Tristan Smith who brought it up the court to Clayton Garrison. Garrison dribbled from in towards the paint but found a double-team awaiting him.
He kicked it back out to Smith.
“I knew when I came off the hand-off they were going to try and double team me because they figured I was going to shoot the shot,” Garrison said. “I saw them help off and I saw Tristan flash out and he is a great shooter when I gave it to him, I knew he was going to hit it.”
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Smith took the open space and hit the game-winning three with 4.7 seconds left to send Chadwick to the Class 1 state championship game with a 52-49 win.
“It was like everything in the entire gym went silent,” Smith said. “The second it went through I had more adrenalin than I had in my body already hit me. It was electric.”
Smith knocking down a clutch three was not surprising to anybody wearing the Chadwick colors, least of all Garrison.
“With about 15 seconds left before we got that defensive stop, Clayton tells me ‘you are going to win this game’,” Smith said. “I was thinking that was just something you say to your teammates. Next thing I know, Grady playing amazing defense gets the steal, Mason catches it and instantly throws it. First thing when I get down the court is look for Clayton and get it to him. It just worked out.”
“He has hit big shots all year. I know he is one of the best shooters on the team, so I trust him,” Garrison said.
That trust has Chadwick set to play Braymer for the Class 1 state championship at 4 pm on Saturday.
While Smith’s three will go down as a legendary shot in the town of Chadwick, it is the defense that gave the Cardinals the opportunity for a comeback.
“We typically like to put a lot of ball pressure on and get up and guard and get after people as well. We knew when we got down eight that we were going to have to put some pressure on the full court,” Chadwick coach Shawn Guerin said. “I kept telling them in the huddle that we just have to finish a shot. We make shots throughout the year and then all the sudden the rim looks (small) when we are fighting for to go to a state championship. All of these guys have made shots all year, they just weren’t falling.”
Green City shot 51.2% from the field in the game to Chadwick’s 40.4%, but it was the 20 turnovers Chadwick forced with 17 steals that made the difference.
“Defensively we came up with some pressure on them and got some easy buckets to get us going. I think that would be where you would say the transition happened,” Guerin said. “We got some hands on (passes) in the halfcourt trap that we have run since they were five years old.”
Smith finished with a team-high 17 points on 3-for-3 shooting from three. Garrison had 11 points, nine rebounds and six steals. Preston was also in double figures with 11 points.
Guerin said when the postseason started the Cardinals reset their record to 0-0 with the goal of going 7-0. They are one game away from achieving just that.
“We’ve talked since district started that there wasn’t going to be an easy path for us. We knew that coming in,” Guerin said. “These guys just keep finding ways to win and that is what is amazing about them. When we got to postseason, I told them everything is going to be tough for you the whole way. You are just going to have to dig and fight and find ways to win. They don’t play for just themselves. They play for all of the guys who have been in the system for several years and were this close to making.”
