Josiah Adamson lifts Catholic Memorial to Garden City Holiday Classic title
It may say “freshman” on the roster, but Josiah Adamson is already a star.
Adamson scored 22 points, including the go-ahead basket with a minute to play, to lead Catholic Memorial to a comeback 59-54 win over Newton North in the Garden City Holiday Classic Tournament final on Friday night at Newton South.
Along with Adamson, Ryan Higgins was in double-figures for the Knights with 11 points. Newton North’s Teagan Swint led all scorers with 25 points.
“I thought our full court pressure wore them down a bit,” Catholic Memorial coach Denis Tobin said. “I have young players. I said when we were down at halftime, ‘let’s see what we’re made of.’ To our guys’ credit they responded and came back.”
Newton North (4-1) led most of the night and clung to a 52-50 edge with two minutes remaining. Knights center Jacob Cofield came up with a three-point play to put CM on top 53-52. Moments later, after Higgins split a pair at the line, Nicky Spinelli hit a layup to tie the game at 54 with 1:10 left.
That is when Adamson came through with the play of the night, driving hard past his man and finishing over a Tigers’ defender for a layup plus the foul to give CM a 56-54 advantage. Trailing 57-54 with 13 seconds remaining, Newton North had a chance to tie the game but Swint’s three-point attempt came up short and at the other end Adamson put home a fast break layup to clinch the victory for the Knights.
“I thought Jacob (Cofield) was going to seal off his defender and that’s how I was going to attack,” Adamson said of the go-ahead basket. “Then I realized I had my man one-on-one and I didn’t think he could hold me so I took him, jabbed, and got to the rim.”
Swint came out on fire in the opening frame as the junior hit three triples to propel the Tigers to a 21-16 edge after one. Newton North’s first-half lead got as large as 11, 27-16, on a Spinelli three-pointer and it held a 31-23 lead at the half.
Catholic Memorial (5-0) chipped away throughout the third quarter as Adamson went coast-to-coast, Higgins hit a three-pointer, and Matt St. Martin finished in the lane as part of a 9-0 run that tied the game at 43 heading into the final stanza.