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COLUMN: Finals let Pirates' McIntosh shine on biggest stage
It's such a rare occurrence that an athlete saves the best game of his life for the biggest game of his life that even fiction stays away.
There are a few cinematic examples -- Rocky against Creed, Happy Gilmore against Shooter McGavin, Steve Nebraska against physics in The Scout -- but serious movies almost never go there.
So watching Bryant McIntosh makes play after play down the stretch for the Greensburg Pirates in the IHSAA Class 3A boys' basketball state finals on Saturday almost seemed like a comedy.
McIntosh came into the game averaging 16.7 points and 7.4 assists. I'm sure he's had a game in which he scored more than the 26 and (of course) assisted more than the four he put in against Fort Wayne Concordia. But the way he scored, and the control of the game he had on both sides of the court, would be impossible to match.
It was complete.
Greensburg trailed by 10 points at halftime, then McIntosh took the game into his hands. He made stops on defense. The offense ran through him, and it worked. The Pirates got better every period and McIntosh became more of a factor every period.
Concordia led by two, 58-56, with 2:54 left and it attempted to run out the rest of the game. The Cadets worked the ball around the perimeter, making careful passes for more than a minute.
Then they got careless. McIntosh left his man just open enough to drive to the basket, but not open enough to score.
Greensburg grabbed the rebound, pushed it up to McIntosh and hit tied it with a layup.
Concordia hit a few free throws, then with 28 seconds left, McIntosh hit a three-pointer to tie it again.
He had eight more points in overtime. There were a few stumbling blocks along the way; a few careless turnovers.
McIntosh is a junior in high school and that will happen. Each was because his teammates tried to force him the ball when they shouldn't have.
The Pirates didn't have a senior take the court on Saturday. They'll likely be back on center stage in late March next year. McIntosh is committed to play for Indiana State beginning in the 2014-15 season.
He'll have many great games as his career continues. Nothing will match his play on Saturday.