Gavin Roberson did.
Roberson, moved up from the junior varsity after an ankle injury to starter Hayden Howard two weeks ago, calmly drained the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:30 to play and the Trojans held on for a 51-48 win over Heritage to capture the NGAC basketball tournament title Saturday afternoon at Ringgold Middle School.
Roberson's bucket was the first and only field goal for the Trojans in a fourth quarter that saw the Generals turn a 10-point deficit into a two-point lead.
Down 40-30 to start the final quarter, Heritage went on a 16-4 run and Landon Carlock's bucket with 1:45 left gave his team a 46-44 lead, forcing Edge to call timeout to regroup and set up a play.
"We had been coming off a double high-screen for Tucker (Bradley) all game, and coming out of the timeout, I told Tucker to go like he normally would, then back out and he should have Gavin wide open in the corner when Gavin's defender came to help. I just told him to trust Gavin that he'd make the shot and he did."
Heritage looked to regain the lead on their next possession, but Bradley came up with a steal and converted a pair of free throws to push the lead to three just 15 seconds later.
Dylan Bice hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Generals to cut the gap down to two, and a turnover would give them the ball back with 35 seconds left. But Bradley would come up big on defense again, getting a steal along the sideline and eventually hitting 1-of-2 from the stripe to put the Trojans up 50-47 with 19 ticks remaining.
"Defensively, I have get on to Tucker sometimes for not defending the whole possession," Edge explained "But when he's down in a defensive stance, he's as good as I've seen."
Noah Hill drew a foul and just missed a possible game-tying 3-point play with eight seconds left, but made just one free throw to keep Gordon Lee's lead at two. Chaney Rogers made 1-of-2 free throws for the Trojans to give the Generals a pulse, but Hunter Erickson misfired on a final 3-point attempt as the Trojans exploded in celebration.
The win secured a 19-0 NGAC record for the Trojans and a 19-1 record overall. Their only loss was a non-league setback to Chattanooga McCallie back on Jan. 9. It also marked the first NGAC basketball title for the Trojans since 2009.
"We honestly didn't talk about winning a championship until it got later in the season and we were still undefeated in the league," Edge explained. "We finally started talking about it and making it our goal. I really thought we were going to be in trouble a couple of weeks ago when Hayden (Howard), who's the heart and soul of our defense, got hurt, but our kids bounced back from that and we had kids like Gavin and Brandon Lewis step up and do well. They were huge for us."
Bradley, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, hit four 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points. Andrew Towns added 10 points and Roberson went for nine points on three 3-pointers.
Erickson had four threes for the Generals and finished with 14 points. Carlock had 13 for Heritage with Bice adding seven.
"We had to play a couple of odd combinations down the stretch because of foul trouble, but the kids stepped up and I have nothing but good things to say about the effort," said Heritage head coach Kelly Hill, whose team finished the season with a 14-5 record. "We had some boys take on some new roles today and I couldn't be prouder of them.
"I think it was a good year. It's hard to swallow right now, losing the last one, but it was a good year. To be down 10 or 12 points and come back to take the lead, it was a great effort and I'm proud of them."
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