“You'd better do it, do it in the locker room,” was the only thing heard on the court from the Centennial players long after the fans had left Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Coyotes players were referring to coach Randy Lavender having to do the popular dance known as the “griddy” after the Coyotes won the 5A Conference basketball championship 46-39 over the Gilbert Tigers, the Coyotes' first basketball title in school history.
For most of the game it looked as if the Tigers were bringing their second championship in three seasons back to Gilbert.
With 4:55 remaining the Tigers led 39-30 behind great team offense and stellar perimeter defense. And even after a Centennial timeout, it was as if the momentum was still on the Tigers' side.
What came next, was a moment that’ll be referred to by Centennial for years to come as “The Run."
Senior do-it-all guard for the Coyotes, Jake Lifgren, had eight points in the final 4:55, including a stretch of six straight free throws to ice the victory. Lifgren finished the game with 17 points, 10 coming in the final quarter.
Junior forward Emery Young had the other eight points including a bank shot three pointer with 55 seconds left that gave the Coyotes the lead for the first time since the 28 second mark in the first quarter in what would eventually be the winning basket. Young finished the game with 11 points and 12 rebounds to go alongside the game winning three pointer.
The Coyotes, behind a ferocious defensive stand and timely baskets, went on a 16-0 run in the final minutes to secure the win.
The road to the championship had plenty of bumps. The first was the Coyotes' loss to Catalina Foothills in last season’s championship game. It was a game that Coyotes senior Emery Young felt gave them the lesson they needed for this title run.
“We wanted to be back, we didn’t like how it ended last year so we knew we wanted to be back and win” he said.
As the Coyotes battled their way on the court back to the championship game, one of their own was fighting his own battle off of it.
During his freshman season in 2018-19, Trenten Lavender looked as if he could be the future of basketball at Centennial. Lavender was already one of the leading scorers and showed flashes of his potential, especially at the defensive end.
At the beginning of his sophomore year, Lavender tore his ACL. And while on the road to recovery, in an awful twist of fate, he tore it again junior year. With his basketball future in doubt, he still was on the bench at every game coaching up his fellow teammates and leading even while not being on the court.
Early in the 2022 championship game with a brace on his leg, Lavender checked into the game and scored a basket and was the final substitution into the game with three seconds left.
His father Randy embraced him with tears in his eyes postgame as together the pain and adversity of the past three years went away for at least a moment.
Sports for some is an escape from reality. For the bonds shared on the court from father to son and from teammate to teammate, Centennial used that escape to grow as a family, some related by blood and some not. And for the Centennial family it culminated in a championship that each player and coach united to help earn.
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