‘Something special about this group’: Clark boys capture 4A state championship

SPARKS — Despite digging themselves an early hole, the Clark Chargers found a way to scratch, claw, shovel and dig their way out.

The result was a dramatic 56-54 win over Bishop Manogue in the championship game of the NIAA 4A boys state basketball tournament at Spanish Springs High School on Saturday afternoon.

Clark handed North champion Manogue (26-3) just its third loss all year and its first in six weeks. Saturday’s victory was Clark’s 15^th straight and gave the Chargers (22-5) their first state title since 2016.

“I’ve said it all year. There’s something special about this group,” Chargers coach Brent Rothman said. “They believe in each other more than they believe in themselves.

“You’re not able to do things like this unless you have that. It’s the only way to win.”

Manogue, the private Catholic school in Reno, had not trailed and took a 41-40 lead into the fourth quarter. The Miners’ lead was 44-42, 90 seconds into the final quarter when Chargers power forward Devan Christion dropped in a layup and canned pair of free throws on back-to-back Clark possessions.

The short burst saw Clark forge ahead 46-44 with 5:13 to go in the game. The Southern 4A champs never trailed again.

The game was tied at 48-48 after a floater by the Miners Liam Sorensen with 3:51 to play, but that’s as good as it got for Manogue. Chargers guard CJ Edwards broke the tie with a corner 3-pointer with just over two minutes left and Clark did not relinquish the lead down the stretch.

Rothman was confident his team would execute as the game stayed tight most of the way.

“We have just been in those moments before,” he said. “We’ve won some and lost some of those games, but we practice those situations every day and talk about valuing possessions.

“It also helps that we’ve got four very good ball handlers. When we got it to a one-point game, and then eventually got the lead, I just believed we’d hold on and get it done.”

Just like it did in the semifinal a day earlier, Manogue grabbed the momentum right from the opening tip. The Miners limited Clark to one bucket through the first five-plus minutes of action and jumped out to a 12-2 lead with 2:55 left in the first period.

Clark responded with an 8-2 run of its own to trim the Manogue lead to four, 14-10. Manogue extended its edge back to eight, 20-12, after a Kade Snyder field goal with 5:22 left in the first half.

However, the Chargers didn’t let their North foes run away. CJ Edwards knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Clark got back to within three, 23-20.

The teams went into halftime with Bishop Manogue on top 27-22.

“It really started three years ago when our staff took over the program,” Rothman said. “It had been through some losing and then we got some kids that were sick of it. That team started this collective toughness and resiliency.

“Every day in practice we start with sprints and we don’t touch a ball for 30 minutes. We have kids that believe and that makes it easy to coach.”

While Manogue’s 6-foot-8 towers of Snyder and Connor Sheridan paced the Miners with 25 and 13 points, respectively.

University of Akron-bound Christion and Edwards poured in 22 and 17 points respectively to lead the Clark offensive attack.