With all the hoopla surrounding conference basketball tournaments and the beginning of the annual big dance, it's easy for the grand finale of some states' prep basketball seasons to get overshadowed. That wasn't the case for the Colorado Class 5A boys basketball championship and for good reason: Parker (Colo.) Chaparral High scored a game- and title-winner on one of the plays of the season.
The player providing the truly incredible tip-in you see above is Chaparral senior star Josh Adams, who was named tournament MVP shortly after his game-winning bucket. After his teammate (and BYU-commit) Cory Calvert missed what was expected to be the final shot of the Wolverines' overtime period against Arapahoe (Colo.) High, Adams came soaring to the rescue, elevating and suspending in mid-air while cutting to the basket from left to right, then connecting with his left hand -- the only one he could get to the ball -- and scoring what has to be the tip-in of the year at any level so far.
The bucket, which left just two seconds on the clock, gave Chaparral a 69-67 lead, an edge which held up to hand the Wolverines their first state title in school history, leaving Arapahoe stunned in the process.
"He's an amazing athlete," Calvert told the Denver Post of Adams, a close friend and classmate. "And that's why he's a big-time player."
A big-time player with big-time leaping ability. Beyond the fact that the tip-in was lefty, the amount of time that the Wyoming-bound Adams spent in the air has to be the most impressive aspect of the game-winning feat. The fantastic photo you see above from the Denver Post tells that story better in one image than any further explanation can do itself.
Of course, Adams is happy to shed more light on the leap, too.
"The play was for Cory [Calvert] to take the last shot because he had been feeling it," Adams said. "I'll tell you what, I put everything into that jump."
On this occasion, everything was enough not only for a game-winner, but for a state-title-winning tip-in, one which no one at Chaparral or Arapahoe is likely to forget anytime soon.
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