By STEVE BRADLEY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Garrett Clar was all alone as he stepped to the free-throw line on Saturday night.
The scoreboard clock at Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester Community War Memorial showed 7:47 remaining in the fourth quarter and Clar’s Victor Blue Devils trailing the Greece Athena Trojans, winners of 23 games and the top-ranked Class AA team in the state, 49-45.
A technical foul had just been called, so it was just Clar and the basketball.
He calmly drained both shots and then hit a jump shot to tie the game seven seconds later to ignite a 13-0 Victor run that carried the seventh-seeded Blue Devils to a 70-61 victory over the Trojans and their second consecutive Section V Class AA championship. The win sends Victor, the defending state Class AA champions, into the Far West Regional against either Jamestown or Health Sciences from Section VI at a site and time to be announced.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JENNIFER LAEMLEIN.
“We know that basketball is a game of runs, so we were just hoping that we were going to get a chance to make the last run, and I think that’s what we did,” Clar said.
Did they ever.
Clar scored 11 points in 2:32, capped by a three-pointer from the left wing, as the Blue Devils took a 58-49 lead to seize control. Clar, who was named Tournament MVP, scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.
“Garrett is a phenomenal player, he’s a winner and I just can’t say enough good things about Garrett,” Victor coach Tyler Roberts said.
While Clar dominated the fourth quarter, Victor senior Nick Leonard controlled the second as the Blue Devils overcame a seven-point first quarter deficit to take a 35-27 lead at the half. Leonard, an All-Tournament selection, scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half.
Garret Clar cuts the deficit to one at 21-20. pic.twitter.com/kykUZ2a373
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 3, 2024
Griffen Hopkins to Garret Clar. @VictorBLDevils 51-49 7:07 to go. pic.twitter.com/DaYVHO3XvS
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 3, 2024
Victor pounded the ball inside to Leonard early and the 2023 MVP of the Section V Tournament responded in a big way, making 9 of his 10 free-throw attempts in the first half and going 13 of 16 from the line during the game.
“We knew that would be a mismatch inside that we could go to and we really emphasized getting the ball to Nick against that matchup and it worked out for us tonight,” Roberts said.
While Victor got the better of the play in the second and fourth quarters, Athena (23-1) won both the first and third quarters convincingly.
Khorie Reaves drained a three-pointer from the left corner to open the scoring 20 seconds into the game and the Trojans added a triple from I’zick Richards and two from Zee Johnson to open a 14-8 advantage with 3:30 left in the opening frame. Those were the only three’s Athena would make all night.
Johnson scored eight of his 16 points in the first quarter as the Trojans took a 21-16 lead. Victor led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but two free throws by I’zick Reaves and a pair by Ne’Sean Fowlks sent Athena to the locker room down only seven.
“We were all very optimistic about how the game was going to go after that,” said Athena coach Mike Setzer, who was forced to alter his substitution pattern after Connor Osier picked up his second foul with 2:03 remaining in the first quarter.
Osier, who led Athena with 18 points, asserted himself on both ends of the floor in the third quarter with 10 points and several big plays on defense.
A block by Osier sent Johnson away in transition and he punctuated the break with a dunk to tie the game at 39 with 3:29 left in the third. A steal by Osier led to another basket by Johnson later in the third and Khorie Reaves scored off a baseline out-of-bounds play to send Athena into the fourth with a 47-45 advantage.
The game changed on the first possession of the fourth as Osier converted a layup off a steal and was fouled. He was assessed a technical foul on the play, his fourth personal foul, and missed the free-throw attempt before Clar went to the line to start Victor’s decisive spurt.
“I feel like that was really unfortunate because we were playing our best basketball at that point,” Setzer said. “That gave Connor his fourth and we had to take him out and we just didn’t recover from that.”
Although Victor could have been down five points, the Blue Devils pulled within two.
“We always talk to our team about controlling the controllables,” Roberts said. “So, we are always focused on the next play. When they had the technical foul we were just looking forward to capitalizing on that opportunity.”
The Blue Devils did just that.
Things got more challenging for Athena just over two minutes later when Khorie Reaves, who averages more than 18 points per game, fouled out after scoring 11.
“At some point we will be able to look back and be proud of ourselves, but right now it hurts,” Setzer said. “There is a lot to be proud of. We won our division, we were the No. 1 seed in Class AA, we won 23 straight games and at one point we were ranked No. 1 in the state.”
After enduring its fair share of adversity, things are coming together for Victor at the right time. Senior Cameron Ryan, who scored 10 points on Saturday, has returned from an injury to make the Blue Devils deeper, more confident. Junior Griffen Hopkins, who scored 10 points on Saturday has shown a propensity for coming up big in the past. And, even though this is a new year, Victor can draw on its championship experience when they are tested in the postseason.
“Knowing what the big picture looks like really did help us this year,” Roberts said. “We just knew that we had to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season. I don’t think that the guys ever panicked this year and when things got tough we came together, and that is a credit to our captains who pulled our team together.”
Saturday night those Blue Devils circled together one more time away from the crowd in a Blue Cross Arena locker room to sing, dance and celebrate a second consecutive title.
“It was the best thing ever to do it once, but to do it again with a new group of guys is even better,” Leonard said.
All-Tournament Team
Trevor Hofer (Penfield), Zee Johnson (Greece Athena), Khorie Reaves (Greece Athena), Connor Osier (Greece Athena), Griffen Hopkins (Victor), Nick Leonard (Victor). MVP: Garrett Clar (Victor).
No. 7 Victor (16-8) 70, No. 1 Greece Athena (23-1) 61
Victor: Griffen Hopkins 4-2-10, Cam Ryan 4-1-10, Garrett Clar 7-6-23, Nick Leonard 5-13-23, Owen Dake 2-0-4. Totals: 22-22-70
Greece Athena: I’zick Reaves 1-6-9, Khorie Reaves 4-2-11, I’zayah Reaves 1-1-3, Zee Johnson 7-0-16,
Connor Osier 8-2-18, Ne’Sean Fowlks 1-2-4. Totals 22-13-61.
Three-point goals: I’zick Reaves, K. Reaves, Johnson 2, Ryan, Clar 3. Fouled out: K. Reaves.
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