Vengeance: Shady Spring topples Fairmont Senior in overtime for Class AAA state championship (With Gallery)

charleston — Ammar Maxwell exited the high school basketball stage the way he entered it in 2021. As a state champion.

His Shady Spring teammates made sure of it.

Juniors Jack Williams and Jalon Bailey made all eight of their free throws in the final 1:07 of overtime as the Tigers stunned favored Fairmont Senior 58-55 in the Class AAA state championship game Saturday at the Coliseum.

Maxwell had fouled out in the extra period, but not before putting together another double-double (his second of the tournament) with 14 points and 13 rebounds to earn all-tournament honors.

It was the third straight meeting between the two programs in the AAA state championship, the first win by Shady.

It was the second state championship for the Tigers, who beat Wheeling Central for their first in 2021.

“Oh, my gosh, it feels great to be state champions,” Shady Spring coach Ronnie Olson said. “What a freaking game. You know what? They’re not better than us, we’re not better than them. Who is going to go out and be the better team today for four quarters? We put it on the board (in the locker room). Who is going to be the better team today? We could play them nine out of 10 times; we could switch the roles. We were the better team today through a hard-fought grind. What a state championship game. Four straight state championship games and (winning) two out of four is pretty good.”

“You have two very defensive-minded teams,” Fairmont Senior coach Dave Retton said of the matchup, noting the two will play again next season in the regular season, as they have the last two years, each winning at home. “You have guys who love to compete and love to win. You have a coach from Shady (and) that their team mirrors his personality. There is a lot of respect from our program to theirs and from a coach to a coach. We respect them and we will fight again. We’re lined up to play.”

And it also took more than four quarters to decide this meeting between the state’s top two Class AAA programs.

Despite falling behind by 10 early in the game and trailing by seven in the third quarter and by three with 1:12 left, the Tigers were able to grind out a win by doing exactly what Olson said, execution.

With the Polar Bears leading 48-45 after a layup by Andre Grant, who led all scorers with 28 points, including 4 of 5 on three, the teams traded possessions and Shady Spring was finally able to draw within one on a pair of free throws by Maxwell.

Tre Cumberledge split two free throws, giving Fairmont a 49-47 lead.

On an inbounds play under the basket, Gavin Davis found himself alone and Williams got him the ball with a quick bounce pass that tied the score at 49-49 with 36 seconds left.

“We’ve run that play all year,” Olson said. “It’s all about read and react and Gavin does a heck of a job of selling, going, faking and sliding under there.”

“And Gavin also took a charge on the next play, can’t forget that.” Williams said.

Fairmont’s standout Zycheus Dobbs let the clock run down to about 10 seconds as he dribbled in the backcourt then made the move toward the basket and attempted a floater but crashed into Davis for the charge.

It was Williams who may have saved the championship late in the game.

Shady had trouble inbounding the ball and finally attempted to throw it up to Maxwell. But Julz Butler jumped in front of the pass and knocked it away, right to teammate Darrell Claybrook who turned around to see Dobbs seemingly wide open under the basket. But Williams flashed through the lane and knocked it away with 2.1 seconds left.

“It’s just a reaction,” Williams said. “You see Dobbs under the rim, and you know (his teammate) is going to throw him the ball and if he gets it there it’s a basket. I knew if he catches it there isn’t much I can do with him down there if he gets that low so I knew I couldn’t let him catch the ball.”

Still, the Polar Bears had the ball and a chance with 2.1 seconds left.

On the inbounds Grant, was open from about 14 feet and he let it go.

The ball seemed to hang in the air for minutes.

“Not again,” Olson said of what he thought as the shot went up, thinking back to two years when Dobbs had made a basket in the paint at the buzzer to beat Shady Spring 60-59. “Not again. I felt like I was with the ball, and I was blowing in the air at it so it would go off (course). Andre Grant, that kid is a menace. He is a college elite-level defender and he made it hard on us. He is a phenomenal basketball player, very underrated. But when that ball went in the air I said, ‘Please, you’re not going to do it to me (again).’ But they missed it, we rebounded it and it was euphoric.”

It sent the game to overtime where Maxwell gave the Tigers the lead, 50-49 with a free throw. He would later foul when Grant cut through a pair of Shady defenders and got to the rim for the basket where Maxwell fouled him. He missed the free throw, but Fairmont had the lead and Maxwell was on the bench.

“Ammar was upset and rightfully so and he looked at me and he almost had tears in his eyes, didn’t you son?” Olson said, turning to his star on the postgame press conference podium. “What did I say to you?”

“You got me,” Maxwell said.

“I looked right at him, and I said, ‘We’re going to win this state championship.’ I said, ‘Jackie got you. Jalon got you. Gavin got you. Khi (Olson) got you. Brody (Radford) got you. Braedy (Johnston) got you. We got you.’ and they took it. What a freakin’ grind.”

That’s when Shady got a key stop and started making free throws to keep the lead at three.

On the next possession Williams tied the game and then gave Shady the lead back at 52-51 with a pair of free throws at the 1:07 mark.

On Fairmont’s next possession Dobbs got cut off in the paint by Williams and tried to outlet the ball to a teammate but there was nobody on the wing.

Bailey then made two free throws to make it 54-51.

With 37 seconds left Dobbs cut it to 56-53 before Bailey was fouled on the inbounds play and calmly made two more.

Grant made two free throws for the Polar Bears to make it 56-55 with 21 seconds left.

Williams was able to get to the line with nine seconds left as Brody Radford alertly saw him sprinting down the sideline on the Shady side of the floor. He was fouled just before getting the ball to a cutting Davis for the layup. He did make both free throws.

The Polar Bears had one shot at a tie, but Grant’s off-balance 22-footer was no good. A Butler three came after the buzzer sounded, setting off a wild Shady celebration.

Bailey had a big third quarter, pouring in 10 points to get Shady back to even at 38-38 after falling behind 30-23 with 5:41 remaining in the quarter.

He had a three-pointer, a three-point play and four free throws — the final two tying the game at 38 — as the Tigers outscored the Polar Bears 15-8 over the final 5:41.

“Ammar and Jack, (Fairmont) had their two best defenders on them so I knew I had to make a play,” Bailey said. “We were down, and we needed a spark, so I tried to step up.”

“He did,” Olson added.

“He dribble-penetrated and took the ball to the basket and he’s very good,” Retton said of Bailey. “We got to him late at times where we didn’t stop the ball and he’s shooting eight-footers, nine-footers, 10-footers.

The Dobbs vs. Maxwell matchup was an interesting one to watch.

Olson called it a heavyweight fight.

“We’re both great players, he’s big and strong, I’m big and strong, you just go out there and battle it out,” Maxwell said.

“It’s always a fun matchup with Ammar, because he’s a top player in the state,” Dobbs said. “I give him a lot of credit because he gave me a hard morning, and hopefully I gave him a hard morning, too. He’s a great player and respect to their team and him.”

In addition to Maxwell and Bailey, Williams had 15. The Tigers made 21 of 24 free throws and outrebounded Fairmont 30-21, mainly on the strength of Maxwell’s 13.

Dobbs finished with 15 points, seven blocks, six rebounds and six assists.

The game was tied eight times and the lead changed hands seven times.

Olson also thanked the community as he got emotional toward the end of the press conference.

“I’m not going to tell you that first (championship) was not more special than this one. However, you’re talking about winning two,” Olson said. “You do something twice it’s not an accident. Our program, shew … I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I’ve had losing two straight championships as a coach had hurting for those (past seniors) that walked out the door. And I promised myself I was going to do everything as a coach and I talked to my coaches and we were not going to let it be on us this year. All I asked was total buy-in.

“And to look in those stands and see our community up there. People 60 and 70 years old and not losing faith in me, not losing faith in our players. I let us off the hook. We might have won two state championships. I might have kept us from that. But they stood by us. We haven’t lost a home game in five years because of our community support. This is amazing, I’m just so proud of these guys and the community.”

Shady Spring finished the year 23-4, the second most wins in school history behind the 2022 team that was 24-3.

Maxwell, Williams and Davis made the all-tournament team for Shady. Fairmont’s Dobbs was MVP and was joined by teammates Cumberledge and Grant. Rounding out the team were Jackson Crouso of East Fairmont and Ty Stephens of Nitro.