In Hunter Fields’ eyes, he was just doing his job.
In everyone else’s view in attendance Saturday night at Chattanooga State, the Bradley Central High School sharp-shooter is now a legend after his 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining lifted the Bears past Tyner, 66-64, in the boys’ championship game of the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament.
Tyner star Rodney Henderson’s 3-point try at the buzzer, the potential winning shot, hit off the left side of the rim as a standing-room-only crowd erupted.
“This means a lot. I haven’t done much in this tournament,” said Fields, who was set up for his winner by a pass from big man Tyrese Stovall, who had driven hard into the lane. “My man pressed down and ‘Rese gave it to me, and it just felt good as soon as I shot it. There was no hesitation because that’s my role on this team, to shoot the ball when they give it to me.”
The Bears (9-6), who won by a combined 70 points in their first two Best of Preps games to reach the title matchup, rolled out to a 35-21 lead with less than two minutes left in the second quarter Saturday on the strength of 19 first-half points from tournament MVP Caiden Bauldwin.
The Rams (11-6), though, closed the half with nine consecutive points, five from Zion Pinkerton, to cut the lead to five heading into the locker room.
“I felt we controlled things really well except for times late in both halves,” Bradley coach Zach Carpenter said. “We were up 14 in the second quarter and ended up leading by only five at the half, and we did that again in the second half.”
Henderson, who was saddled with two early fouls in a scoreless first half, hit a turnaround jumper with 3:24 left in the third quarter to tie the game at 40, but Stovall, who finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds, converted a three-point play late as Bradley led 49-45 heading into the final eight minutes.
Bauldwin had his own three-point play and then fed Stovall for a layup as the Bears scored the fourth quarter’s first seven points for a 56-45 lead. Again, though, Tyner rallied, with Pinkerton nailing a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two with 3:32 left.
After a Bauldwin drive gave Bradley a four-point edge, Henderson scored six straight to give Tyner the lead, then made a steal and had an assist to Kohl Ward for a 62-58 lead with a minute to play. Carpenter calmed his team during a timeout, and the Bears responded with a pair of steals that led to four Bauldwin points and a 63-62 lead.
Henderson gave the lead right back to Tyner on a hard drive with 29 seconds left, leading to the winning shot by Fields.
“We had some stupid, silly turnovers in the middle of the game and at the end of the game, but we didn’t let that hold us back,” said Bauldwin, who finished with a game-high 31 points and added nine rebounds. “We didn’t hang our heads, and we kept pushing as hard as we could.
“This feels great. We wrote a bunch of goals on our whiteboard before the season, and the first thing was to win the Best of Preps.”
Pinkerton led Tyner with 20 points, with Henderson adding 15.
Joining Bauldwin on the all-tournament team were teammates Stovall and Ramireon Taylor, Tyner’s Henderson and Pinkerton, third-place Red Bank’s Jaylen Rice and DJ Wilbur, fourth-place Notre Dame’s Gaas Herman, fifth-place McCallie’s Kaleb Gallman and seventh-place Arts & Science’s Phillip Moss Jr.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct Tyrese Stovall’s last name.