Brusly dethrones Wossman in D-II NS for first state championship since 1984

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Brusly’s four-decade wait is over, slaying its division’s biggest dragon Friday to win its first title since 1984.

The No. 3 Panthers (26-5), after back-to-back heartbreaking semifinals losses, made their first finals since the program’s lone championship.

Awaiting: Back-to-back champion No. 1 Wossman (25-7) making its eighth appearance in 11 years, including eliminating Brusly from last year’s tournament.

The Panthers attacked the challenge from the outset — starting fast, weathering some back-and-forth and then taking control in the second half — to tie the bow on their historic run with a 45-38 victory and the Division-II Non-Select crown.

“We’ve had some heartbreaking losses in this building,” coach Kirby Loupe told the LHSAA Network postgame broadcast. “We run out to a lead the other night and, boy, they clawed back. And they never doubted themselves. You think that’s a Cinderella story. And then today we’re on the bus coming here, and we have music bumping on the bus. And they’re jumping around, and I’m like, ‘God, do they even know we’re about to go play a state championship game.

“I told (senior point guard) Ryland Johnson this morning, I said, ‘Hey, man, Wossman’s a perennial state champ… You’re gonna have to beat ’em.’ And his response to me was ‘Coach, they’re gonna have to beat us. So these kids believed they were gonna win.”

Senior guard Micah Bryant scored the first seven points of the third quarter — a transition 3-pointer and back-to-back shots in the lane — to break an 18-18 tie.

The Panthers never trailed again.

Senior forward Ben Radford, the game’s MVP, anchored a rugged defense that helped keep Wossman off balance and out of sorts all night to match their lowest-scoring performance in 11 years under coach Casey Jones.

Bryant drained a step-back 3-pointer from the wing for the first points of the fourth quarter and, after a Wildcats answer, Radford hit a pair of free throws shortly thereafter to extend the margin to 39-31.

Neither team would score for several minutes until Wossman showed some signs of life with a floating jumper from just beyond the elbow by senior guard Jontae Turpin, a Roosevelt Dean steal and a deep Turpin 3 to pull back to within 39-36 with 1:14 remaining.

But the Wildcats couldn’t connect again until an inconsequential put-back in the final seconds, missing the mark on four 3-pointers in three possessions.

And a pair of Brusly seniors who hadn’t yet scored, Kazi Murray and Jonden James, put the finishing touches on the victory.

Murray, who had exited early with an ankle injury, went right at a defender in the lane, finishing a physical basket through contact, and James broke ahead for an exclamation-mark transition layup despite being fouled from behind.

“It’s these kids, man. It’s this senior group,” Loupe said. “And I’m sorry I’m a little emotional because the senior group, they’re great kids. They’re good basketball players. They’re good teammates. But they’re better people. They’re better people. I’ve been doing this a long time, 24 years, and I’ve never had a group that’s this close and has this much culture. They literally are friends, and it shows on the court.”

Radford finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds, seven blocked shots and countless other Wossman attempts altered by his presence inside.

“It meant a lot,” he said. “Last year, we had a tough loss, a tough four-point loss. We came in this season wanting to take revenge for Wossman… and me and our seven seniors would spend hours in the gym by ourselves every day, even on Friday nights at 10 o’clock… Whatever it took to win.”

Bryant added 15 points with his clutch second-half scoring and six points and two steals.

“It was just as a team, we’d all been preparing since the beginning of the season and really before the season,” he said. “Last season when we lost, we were right back in the gym the next week getting ready to get back in this spot to win it all.”

Johnson chipped in nine points, eight rebounds and a steal.

“My grandpaw’s been teaching me my whole life, really, and been showing me what to do,” said the point guard, the grandson of longtime, legendary White Castle coach Ronald Johnson. “Even in the games he would tell me sometimes to take my time and do things better, because he had experience being here and he has a ring. He knows what to do to win.”

Turpin and Dean led Wossman with 14 points, three steals and an assist each, along with seven and six rebounds, respectively.

Sophomore forward CaDerrius Williams and junior guard Cameron Washington chipped in four points each and nine and eight rebounds, respectively.

Williams joined Turpin and Dean with three steals, while Washington had two. And Dean and Washington each blocked a shot.