Hemingway boys win first title since '02

COLUMBIA — Not surprisingly, it was hard for coach Barry McFadden to hold back tears as he watched his Hemingway squad form a dogpile at center court.

It had been a long journey for all of them, and for the first time in McFadden’s four trips to Colonial Life Arena, it ended with the Tiger faithful raising one finger toward the sky.

Suntrell Flagler hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Jalil Brown converted five of six critical free throws down the stretch as Hemingway earned a hard-fought 66-58 victory over Great Falls in the Class A boys state championship Saturday.

It is the fifth state championship for the Tigers and the first since the 2002-03 season.

“I just have to give God all the credit, cause it certainly wasn’t through me,” McFadden said. “I also have to give our kids a lot of credit because they played hard and never quit. Even down after the first half, they found a way to win.”

McFadden said the team never knew who was going to be hero on a given night. But on the biggest stage, Brown and Flagler stepped to the forefront.
Flagler, who hit 10 3-pointers during a game against Green Sea-Floyds earlier in the season, hit two of his four long balls in the final four minutes as Hemingway took a 56-53 lead with 2:14 left.

“I just tried to create some space and find the open shot,” Flagler said. “That’s what I’ve done all season to help this team.”

Brown followed with his free throws — all in the last two minutes — and kept the pressure on Great Falls, which was forced to take desperation 3-pointers and continually foul Hemingway in the closing seconds.

“Coach told us all year that free throws were going to win big games,” Brown said. “We had to knock them down. We couldn’t go out with that empty feeling again.”

Hemingway went 10-for-12 from the charity stripe in the final quarter after going 5-for-11 in the first three quarters.

“I thought that really allowed them to stay in the game and maintain their lead in the first half,” McFadden said. “If we had hit those, it might not have been such a close game, but we made them down the stretch when we really needed them.”

Also keeping Great Falls in the game was senior standout Torrey Craig, who nearly won the state title for the Red Devils single-handedly.

Craig, the only Great Falls player in double figures, finished with a game-high 34 points and 14 rebounds.

“We just wanted to continue to get pressure on him,” McFadden said. “If we could do that, we knew he’d either get in foul trouble or get fatigued. He was in foul trouble at the end of the third quarter and I think he was showing signs of fatigue late in the fourth.”

Brown led Hemingway with 14 points. Flagler followed with 13 and Quintin Brown and Jazjuan Wilson each added 10. Wilson also had 10 rebounds before following out late in the fourth quarter.

The game had 13 lead changes and no team ever had more than a seven-point lead. The Tigers trailed 35-30 at halftime before rallying to take the lead for good at the end of the third quarter.