ARBY'S CLASSIC: Greater Atlanta grabs spot in finals

BY JOSH FLOYD
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Down eight with 3:01 remaining, Greater Atlanta Christian School coach Eddie Martin needed absolute perfection from his squad to pull off an uncanny comeback against daunting Fayetteville. That perfection could be found all wound up in some tight team unity, which spilled over into immediate post-game jubilation.

All in all, five different Spartans found the scorebook over the final three minutes, as two crucial turnovers, a block, a critical intentional foul, 5-for-5 shooting and opposing impatience equaled perfection – and a dramatic 50-45 victory during an entertaining Arby’s Classic semifinal contest Wednesday at Viking Hall.

“I think it’s huge, because it shows us what we can do when we’re down,” said GACS forward Malcolm Brogdon, who recorded a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds. “It really pulls us together for the championship game. That’s what we really needed.”

With the comeback win, the Spartans (10-0) move on to today’s 6 p.m. championship against another unblemished team in Melrose, which defeated McEachern 83-62 in the tourney’s other semifinal tilt.

Trailing for the entire second half, GACS found itself in a place not many teams have rallied from in recent times. Further accentuating that fact was an 8-2 Fayetteville spurt early in the fourth, as a short jumper from Adam Nobel capped the run to give the Bulldogs (10-3) a seemingly insurmountable edge at 42-34.

The odds of GACS pulling off that type of comeback may have surpassed that of even greater mathematical proportions. Yet the Spartans got two quick baskets to make things interesting, with Julian Horton’s clutch 3-pointer from the left side drawing the Atlanta crew within 42-39 at the 2:10 mark.

GACS then stepped on the pressure accelerator, as Brogdon and teammate Paul Dawson each came up with consecutive steals. Both swipes would result in made baskets, with the latter resulting in a 44-42 lead behind Trent Wiedeman’s 3-point play with 1:31 showing.

“I think our defense really stepped up, particularly in the fourth quarter with that full-court press which got us back in the game,” noted Martin, whose squad held Fayetteville to just 17-of-51 from the field. “It got us our momentum and allowed us to win the ballgame.”

Wiedeman was a missing man for much of the first half after being whistled for two charges in the opening 2:33. But despite his absence, the Spartans shared the responsibilities of their 6-foot-7 teammate well.

Were it not for a buzzer-beating trey from Fayetteville guard Taylor Cochran, GACS would have entered halftime deadlocked.

“We were still in the ballgame without [Wiedeman],” Martin said.

Wiedeman then came up with a huge stuff of Bulldogs’ forward Jacob Baxter with 40 ticks left, as the ball ricocheted out to a streaking Dawson. Dawson, who was intentionally fouled by Kikko Haydar moments later, canned two free throws to make it a two-possession game.

“We just didn’t execute,” said Fayetteville coach Barry Gebhart, whose squad will play New Rochelle (N.Y.) in today’s 4:30 p.m. third-place game. “We had the lead and we kept trying to force the issue – and we didn’t need to do so. We needed to work some clock, but we shot the ball too quick.

“Defensively, I thought we played okay, but we bailed them out by making poor decisions on the offensive end.”

Sandwiched around Haydar’s desperation trey in the waning moments were two veteran plays from Brogdon – that falling in the form of a driving layup, along with two game-clinching free throws.

“No one really points fingers on our team – and that’s a good thing,” Brogdon concluded. “We have a lot of mature guys and that’s what coach preaches to us, along with not panicking when it gets tough.”

Haydar garnered a team-high 14 points for the Bulldogs, while Cochran finished with 12. Nobel poured in 10 points for Fayetteville, which played its third consecutive tourney nail-biter.

“I can’t fault our effort,” summed Gebhart. “I thought they did things that we asked them to do. We didn’t execute like we needed to, and that goes back to practice – and I’m in charge of practice. That falls squarely on my shoulders.”