Charleston – There are no guarantees in sports.
All season the Shady Spring boys basketball team had proven itself to be the best team in Class AAA.
Saturday night in the Class AAA championship, Fairmont Senior was one point better.
A last second jumper from Fairmont Senior standout Zycheus Dobbs ended Shady’s dream of back-to-back state championship titles with a 60-59 setback.
“Somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta lose. We lost. It’s pretty simple. It sucks and it hurts. We just didn’t do enough to win,” Shady Spring head coach Ronnie Olson said after the championship game.
It is not the first time Shady Spring has been through tough times on the boys side of the game.
The Tigers overcame several sectional and regional disappointments to finally reach the state tournament last year and cashed in with the first boys basketball title in school history.
Now the Tigers will feed off the even bigger disappointment from Saturday night to make a run to the state tournament next year.
“We don’t take it for granted. There is no back-to-back, it’s gone. We can’t take back tonight,” Olson said. “Let’s win two-out-of three. We got our whole team back and I guaran-damn-tee we are going to be right back here next year.”
There is good reason for confidence because Shady Spring will bring back everyone on its roster plus two players lost for the year prior to the start of the regular season.
Again, there are no guarantees, but if the roster returns in full, the Tigers will be hard to handle again.
All-state guards Braden Chapman and Cole Chapman will return for their senior season. The twin brothers are workaholics and the disappointment will burn in them every bit as hot as their coach.
Jaedan Holstein will be back to patrol the middle along with Cameron Manns and Sam Jordan for their senior seasons.
Ammar Maxwell made great progress on the floor this season becoming much more than just a deep threat. He will be a junior next season.
Gavin Davis is also back for his junior season and should see more minutes to help the Tigers with quality depth.
The question marks will be Brady Green, who will be a junior, and Jack Williams, who will be a sophomore.
Green was injured during football season and missed all of the basketball season as a result. Williams went down in the fourth game of the regular season against Logan.
Both players have had successful knee surgeries and rehab is said to be going well.
Again, there are no guarantees.
Should both players return to their pre-injury abilities, Shady Spring will be even better than this year and clearly much deeper.
On paper, the Tigers look to be the team to beat in Class AAA, but if there is anything the 2021-22 season has shown, there are no guarantees.
