‘Throw it near the rim’: Great Falls dunks past High Point, sets sights on state title
At midcourt of the Bon Secours Wellness Arena at halftime of the 5:30 p.m. game on Friday night, an announcer stood with a boy and told him he was a trivia question away from securing two free tickets to the SCHSL 1A boys’ basketball championship game in Columbia next week.
“So, where are you from?” the announcer asked.
“Great Falls,” he said.
And the largest bloc of fans in the gym — dressed in red, black and white, who’d driven 108 miles from its home court on a Friday evening to see its team play — erupted.
Less than an hour later, Great Falls fans were on their feet again, cheering on a group celebrating on court under the electronic scoreboard that read 86-66, Great Falls over High Point. The Red Devils had defeated the team they’d lost to in last year’s Upper State Championship game — and had punched their proverbial tickets to the 1A boys’ state championship game on March 7 at 12 p.m.
“We had to put a little show on for the fans at the end of the game and have a little bit of fun,” 6-7 senior forward Kelton Talford, who scored 24 points, said with a smile. “That’s a key a part of our game, I feel like. No matter where we go, no matter what we do, we’ll have our fan base behind us, supporting us.”
Great Falls gave this crowd plenty to roar about. By halftime, the team led, 40-24, buoyed by a strong start from 6-7 forward Tydriez “Dre” Coleman, who finished with 17 points.
Come the third quarter, the Red Devils looked as invulnerable as they’ve looked all season — and that’s saying something, considering the team hasn’t lost in 21 games and are undefeated with Talford in the lineup. Every rebound seemed to turn into a fastbreak bucket and every bucket turned into a baseline-to-baseline press.
In one fastbreak sequence, with just over five minutes left, Talford lobbed an alley-oop to Coleman, and Coleman dunked the ball through the hoop like he was punching a pillow.
“We talked about it in the locker room,” Coleman said. “We knew that was going to happen. We said, if him and I are on a fastbreak, whoever has the ball, just throw it near the rim.”
After the dunk, Great Falls coach Alex Fair screamed at his team to get back on defense. A few moments later, Great Falls forced another turnover and senior Kell Brown (who scored 16 points) found DJ Adams (who scored 16 points) for a transition 3-point attempt that soared true.
And Fair — for the first time in what seemed like all game — seemed to exhale. A smile escaped his face. He fist pumped.
But he still wasn’t ready to say the game was over until the final buzzer sounded.
“(I didn’t) celebrate until that clock read zeros,” Fair said postgame. “Some of my assistants were like, ‘Man, you can sit down.’ But I was like, ‘Noooo.’ We wanted to make sure we finished this year. And these fans came out, man, and they supported us. They’ve been with us all year...
“It’s been a long time since Red Devil nation (won a state championship), since 2012, according to their standards. We know Scott’s Branch is a very special team, so we’re going to be ready.”
This crowd was active all game, loud for each and every one of Great Falls’ buckets.
The trivia question to that boy from Great Falls was an easy one, and he dutifully answered and gratefully accepted the free tickets to next week’s contest.
But even by halftime, he — just like the rest of the crowd — knew where he would be on March 7.
He’d be in a sea of red, black and white, waiting to watch this special team etch its name in Great Falls lore.
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 7:11 PM.
.jpeg)