After a loss in mid-December to Logan inside the famed Willie Akers Arena, Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson challenged his team.
The veteran coach knew if his squad ran the table, the Tigers would secure home-court advantage throughout the postseason and enter the Boys State Basketball Tournament as the No. 1 seed overall.
Now the defending Class AAA state champions are one game away from accomplishing that goal.
Riding a 19-game winning streak, Shady Spring welcomes Sissonville to town for one of two Region 3 co-finals to be played Tuesday.
While Shady Spring sports a gaudy 22-1 record, as well as the No. 1 ranking, Sissonville comes in as a bit of a surprise with a 7-16 record.
The Indians dropped their sectional final battle with Herbert Hoover, 58-40, but upset Nicholas County in the sectional semifinals to reach the championship game.
A glance at the numbers will show that pulling the ultimate shocker against the Tigers will be a monumental task.
Sissonville has scored over 60 points just four times this season, while Shady has allowed only three opponents to reach that benchmark.
The Tigers have scored over 70 points in 15 games and have 10 wins against Class AAAA schools. Every win, except one, has come by double digits.
In the sectional championship win over Westside, Shady knocked down seven 3-pointers in the first quarter and 15 overall.
Braden Chapman, Cole Chapman, Ammar Maxwell, Jaedan Holstein, Cameron Manns and sixth-man Sam Jordan can all score in double figures and did in the win over Westside.
Gavin Davis has also played well off the bench, especially on the glass and sacrificing his body to get a charge call for his team.
The main strengths for Sissonville are physicality and balanced scoring. In the win over Nicholas County, five players scored nine or more points.
Ben Smith, Jalen Breckenridge and Brandon Conner led the charge against the Grizzlies.
The biggest question mark for the Indians will be, can they survive the aggressive and often over-powering Shady Spring defense?
In the other Region 3 co-final clash, Westside travels to Clendenin to battle Herbert Hoover in a rematch from last year.
Hoover won that game and is again favored against the Renegades, but the boys from Clear Fork have played well over the final games of the season.
Ashton Reed, Shandall Adkins and Bryson Blankenship give Westside a formidable front line, while Evan Colucci can light it up in bunches from behind the arc.
Since a tough loss at Logan, the Huskies have won 11 of their last 12 games.
Both regional co-final clashes will start at 7 p.m.
