SAN ANTONIO — The old saying is that it’s tough to beat a team three times in one season and that proved to be the case for the Champion boys basketball team Tuesday against Wagner.
Champion was playing the Thunderbirds in the third round of the 5A playoffs for their third meeting of the year at Littleton Gym.
The Chargers had defeated Wagner twice during their 26- 5A meetings but it was the Thunderbirds that took the third contest.
Tuesday’s game went to overtime before Wagner claimed the 52-49 victory to end Champion’s season at 31-6.
Chargers coach Chris Adamek said he knew it would be a tough task to defeat the Wagner three times in a season.
“Both (district) games against Wagner were one-possession games that we won at the end so we knew facing them a third time would be difficult,” he said.
As Adamek noted, just like the other two, this one came down to the wire. Wager held a 7-point lead at the end of the third, but the Chargers outscored the Thunderbirds in the fourth period, 17-10, to tie it up.
Charlie Georgelos put the team on his shoulders in the fourth and scored 12 of their 17 points in the period. The senior tallied their first 7 points in the stanza and 12 of their first 14 points.
Adamek said he knew Georgelos wouldn’t back down from the challenge.
“Charlie Georgelos was our unquestioned leader on and off the court, finishing with 12 playoff wins in his career,” the coach said. “ He ends up being the sixth leading scorer at Champion, is first in career assists and second in career rebounds.”
Georgelos hit a 3-pointer with 2:27 left in the fourth to bring the Chargers to within at point at 45-44. The next time down the court, Baeden Burdick grabbed an offensive rebound and his putback gave Champion their first lead of the second half, 46-45, with 2:06 left.
It stayed that way until Burdick was fouled with 27 ticks on the clock and went 1 of 2 at the line to bump the lead to 47-45.
Wagner responded by lobbing an inbounds pass to 6-foot-8 Trevaun Clark, who tied it with eight seconds left.
Champion took the last shot of regulation, a runner that almost fell, but rolled off the rim. The Thunderbirds grabbed the rebound and sent it to OT knotted up at 47-all.
Wagner never trailed in the extra period. The T-Birds hit a 3 early for the 50-47 advantage and went into a stall, but Burdick answered with a 2-pointer and it was a one-point game at 50-49 with 1:25 on the clock.
Champion missed a shot with 10 seconds left and Wagner rebounded and was fouled. The Thunderbirds made both free throws with 6.5 seconds left and pulled ahead by three points at 52-49.
The Thunderbirds cleaned up on the glass with Clark and two other starters that both stood 6-foot-4. They grabbed a lot of offensive boards and were fouled on follow- up shots. By the end of the game, Wagner had gone to the line 23 times and made 17 foul shots.
Champion had to move the ball the length of the court in 6.5 seconds but didn’t even get off a shot after they lost the handle on the ball and it rolled out of bounds as the buzzer sounded.
Georgelos led the team with 25 points, Burdick netted 9, Briggs Jones tallied 8 and Mason Wyatt added 7 as only four Chargers scored in the game.
Seniors are Joshua Marquez, Quinn Grable, Tre Hudspeth, Mason Wyatt, Briggs Jones, Charlie Georgelos, Preston Lee and Cole Riha.
Adamek said he’s really going to miss them.
“My senior class of 2024 exceeded all my expectations with five of the eight coming from the JV the previous season. This will forever be the group that didn’t quit,” he said. “We won so many close games due to their cohesiveness on the floor and calm demeanor under pressure. Their talent, togetherness and toughness will be difficult to replace
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