By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Class 2, District 11 final was held at Crane High School on Friday night. In what would turn out to be an epic game, Crane won the district title, 68-64, against rival Galena. Both teams had records of 17-5 and were ranked in the Class 2 Coaches Poll; Galena at #10 and Crane at #1. The gym was packed with a crowd hoping to see an exciting game and they were not disappointed.
“I knew it was going to be a battle,” said Crane coach Kevin Smith. “We weren’t up to par because Brecken’s been down for about three weeks and just came back. He was doing five on zero stuff last week and full contact this week. I was really pleased with Isaiah and his leadership out there and his will to win a few times. I can’t just put it all on those two, we had a great team effort.”
Crane jumped out to an early lead, only to have Galena tie it up, 8-8, by the end of the first quarter. Neither team could grab much momentum and the first quarter was fraught with turnovers and misplays. Galena dominated the inside game and the only thing that kept Crane in the game was their defense.
The second quarter saw Crane start to pull away thanks to six 3-pointers in the quarter. Galena continued to score at will from the inside and Crane seemed to play with more urgency. Crane held a halftime lead of 30-26 and seemed to have the momentum in their favor.
Crane came out in the third quarter and made four straight 3-pointers, setting the tone for the quarter. Crane saw their lead grow to 17, 53-36, by the end of the third but the Bears would not go away.
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Galena opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run causing Crane to take a timeout. Two free throws by Isaiah Smith broke Galena’s run. Crane started to get a little sloppy with the ball and stopped playing aggressively on offense. Galena had to go to man to man defense and it worked. The teams exchanged buckets but when Jake Poole put back his own rebound, Galena found themselves within five, 65-60. Galena was forced to foul which turned out to be a good strategy for them, as the Pirates missed five free throws in the quarter. With less than 30 seconds left, Galena senior Wyatt Snelson put Galena within four, 66-62. Galena fouled Aric Spyres, putting him at the line with 15 seconds to go; Spyres made the first but missed the second. Galena’s Brayden Sartin was fouled with 4.6 seconds left to go in the game; he made both free throws, putting Galena to within three, 67-64. Crane’s Vaught was fouled and made the first of his two free throws with 3 seconds left, thus putting Crane up by four. Galena put up a desperation three in at the buzzer but it was deemed too late, making the final score 68-64.
“It’s only my second game back from an injury and I was fighting soreness and trying to stay loose,” said Vaught. “My game is defense; if I play aggressive defense I normally will transition that into offense. It all comes from defense and we had a really good defensive game tonight. It was a fun game, a little closer than we intended, but a great game. Any win this time of year is a good win.”
Leading the Pirates in scoring was senior guard Isaiah Smith.
“Galena is a rival so we knew it was going to be a close game the whole time,” said Smith. “We got ahead and kind of loosened up and we should have shut it down. We figured it out at the end and secured the win. They are a good team and we knew that could happen. Getting to the Final Four is the plan but we’ve got to start with the next game. We’ve got to come in, practice, get ready, but I hope we make it that far.”
Galena coach David Sherer couldn’t be more proud of his players and the young men they are becoming.
“We were down 17 at one point and we managed to come back,” said Sherer. “In life, men are going to have to fight and they could have cashed it in. They showed true grit; it’s about getting up and fighting and not making excuses, and they didn’t. They kept fighting, and grinding and that’s going to make them quality human beings. We had good shots, we can’t complain about the shots we had. We felt like we lost this game probably in the first quarter. We just kept digging and digging and I appreciate their fight. Crane is the #1 team in the state. Last week we beat the #1 team, Lakeland, and this week we had to go against Crane in Crane. That’s not an easy place to win and to fight like we did, I’m proud of our boys. I’m disappointed but in the same breath, the men that they are going to become is what I’m excited about.”
Coach Kevin Smith was impressed with his team’s depth and their willingness to share the ball.
“We used our bench and the boys on the floor and the bench did their job,” said Smith. “We always talk about player development and team development so we just will our way to win sometimes and just grind them out. You don’t want to mess around and leave us open too much because we can shoot the basketball a little bit. Galena is tough. Galena bothers us with their size and their rebounding, but it’s like a tale of two things. What we’re good at is what they’re not good at, and what they’re good at we’re not good at. We are quick and we use that speed to our advantage. Tonight was a matter of whose will would overcome everything and thankfully it was ours.”
Galena—Zayne Gale-23, Ethan Bailey-3, Brayden Sartin-2, Wyatt Snelson-16, Jake Poole-13, Tucker Poole-7
Crane—Aric Spyres-13, Isaiah Smith-22, Brecken Vaught-4, Taylor Calzaretta-6, Zander Mayne-6, Nolan Brawley-3, Aidan Vaught-7, Seth Steele-7
Galena 8 18 10 28 64
Crane 8 22 23 15 68
