Great Falls basketball delivers 11th state championship in dramatic, comeback fashion
DJ Adams stepped in front of a baseline inbounds pass by Scott’s Branch, hunched over the ball as if he were protecting it from the world — and the buzzer sounded.
That’s how it ended. Quickly, unexpectedly. It came down to the final second, but ultimately, the game, the season, the career of the seven Great Falls seniors — it all ended with Adams clutching onto the ball, his team permanently up, 73-71.
The Red Devils were 1A basketball state champions for the first time since 2012 and the 11th time in program history.
“We have a group chat, and our coach sends a picture of the wall,” Adams said after the game. “We got a vacant spot of all the championships we won. There was one open spot. So we just pushed every day in practice. Everybody got better. We kept being a team. And we just worked on it.”
It didn’t come easy, unlike its road to this point. This Red Devils team didn’t lose to a 1A school all year and hadn’t lost to anyone since December. Only a handful of the team’s wins, in fact, were within single digits.
But Saturday afternoon — in front of a robust, rambunctious, proud contingent of fans from Great Falls — the game was close the whole way.
“Tonight’s game was a testament to our season,” Great Falls coach Alex Fair said. “Ups, downs. We never wavered.
“In the last timeout, I told them, with us down six, ‘We’re going to win this game.’ ”
Scott’s Branch unfazed
Like it had all season, Great Falls started fast. Adams hit a 3-pointer on its opening possession, and the Red Devils sprung into their formidable full-court press.
The press had been a tactic the Red Devils relied on all season — one that had the capability of jarring loose a tight game or shifting the game in their favor early and for good.
But Scott’s Branch wasn’t fazed by Great Falls’ baseline-to-baseline defense. In fact, the Eagles seemed to welcome it.
Scott’s Branch ran with the Red Devils, throwing passes over the top and getting easy layups because of it. They were smaller, sure. But they were just as fast and were not intimidated in any respect — neither by Great Falls’ size, nor by the moment itself.
The Eagles jumped out to a 7-4 lead before exiting the first quarter down just one, 17-16, and the lead exchanged hands several times in the second.
Great Falls entered the half up 36-35, after Sincere Wilmore hit a 3-pointer right before time expired.
Although the Red Devils started the second half with a 5-0 run, Scott’s Branch never backed down. The Eagles continued to attack the basket, able to mitigate their size disadvantage by pushing the game into a footrace, which Great Falls’ press enabled.
Scott’s Branch was led by Tariq Coard, who finished with 14 points and five rebounds; Randy Gibson, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds; and Isiah Washington, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The score was tied at 61 with 4:17 left in the game. At that point, Talford had four fouls. A few minutes later, with 2:26 to go 6-7 freshman forward Tydriaz Coleman fouled out with the Red Devils down five.
“That made us push even more,” Adams said. “We knew they had the lead, so we had to play more defense.”
But just when the game looked irrevocably bleak, Adams turned a steal into a layup, and then caused another steal that led to a Kelton Talford putback layup. Senior Kell Brown was sent to the line with just over 10 seconds left with his team up, 72-71.
Brown actually had two trips to the line, after he missed his second free throw but it was rebounded by Talford, who kicked it back to Brown, who got fouled again.
Brown only made 1 of 4 total attempts in the game’s final seconds: “I told him, even though the season’s over, I’m going to run him next week,” Fair said with a smile.
And then, Scott’s Branch raced to the basket with the clock ticking from five. Great Falls deflected the ball and had to defend a baseline inbounds with 1.9 seconds left.
And Adams intercepted the pass, the buzzer sounded, and the Great Falls players stormed the court and roared in front of their loyal crowd.
They hugged. They posed for pictures with a championship belt. Fans in the stands spun towels over their heads that had the words “WE over ME” (the team’s season motto) stitched on it.
After the game, as he walked through the tunnel to the locker room, the normally level-headed, austere Adams couldn’t help but smile. The moment that he’d visualized for so long came to fruition all at once.
The championship game, the season, his career ended with the ball in his hands — just like players always dream of.
“(This) is for everybody,” Adams said. “Anybody that came in the gym with us that gave us a good compliment or told us good luck, everybody — the whole community.”
Notable Great Falls numbers, story lines:
▪ Great Falls was led by Talford, who notched 17 rebounds and 25 points — and that’s with him leaving 10 points on the court, as he went 11-for-21 from the free-throw line. The team was also led by Adams, who scored 22 points and had six steals, and Kell Brown, who scored 12 points and led the team with four assists.
▪ The Red Devils shot just 19-of-38 from the free-throw line and had 25 turnovers. Scott’s Branch, similarly, shot 11-for-24 from the free-throw line and had 21 turnovers.
▪ Coach Fair opened up about his team helping him through a rough time in his first season at the helm. (Fair coached his first game at Great Falls just over a week he got the job.)
“This team, right here, I can’t speak enough about them,” Fair said. “During a crucial time for me — me having to bury my brother last Saturday, the day after the Upper State championship game — I just told them, ‘You know what guys? I’ve been leaning on y’all.’ They knew what I was going through, so I just kind of got my energy from them. Got great joy going into practice. ... They were just a tremendous lift during a crucial time for me.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 4:33 PM.
.jpeg)