Matched up with a guard-reliant St. Joe team, the Crusaders elected to utilize the 6-foot-7 senior.
Fitzwater scored a game-high 22 points to go along with 14 rebounds as No. 4 Greater Beckley took the rubber match 60-52 against No. 5 St. Joe in the Class A quarterfinals Thursday night in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
The win send the Crusaders to the Class A semis where they’ll face No. 1 Tug Valley on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
While Fitzwater was a large part of the equation in Greater Beckley’s second half success, he wasn’t the only variable. Clinging to a 42-40 lead a minute into the final frame, the Crusaders locked in and held the Irish to 21 percent shooting (4-of-19) from the field in the fourth quarter.
“These three right here and the guys in the back of the room understand that it’s time to dig down in the fourth quarter,” Greater Beckley coach Justin Arvon said. “We ended the year being very successful in the fourth quarter. We’ve had a 13-point comeback and a 15-point comeback in the fourth quarter.
‘Now those two games we ended up losing – one in overtime and one at the end – but we made the run we needed to get back in the game. Fourth quarter is typically our time and we anticipate nothing different than having a good fourth quarter tomorrow night as well.”
For the Irish the disappointing final frame came after battling back-and-forth with the Crusaders all night. The game featured five ties and six lead changes, none of which came in the final quarter.
“Credit them,” St. Joe head coach Todd Maynard sad. “They’re a good defensive team. They guard the perimeter well and they made it tough on us. We try to open gaps to get some triple gap situations with good spacing and ball movement but they play good wall defense. These are some of the three best guards in Class A. These guys are quick, they’re able to get out in space but when they get in there they’ve got the big guy (Fitzwater) the big tree in there and it’s tough.”
Greater Beckley started fast on offense, scoring 10 of its 14 first quarter points in the paint, excelling in transition. That proved key with the Crusaders struggling from distance all night, hitting just two of their 14 attempts. They still held serve through the first half, taking a 26-24 lead into the break after leading by seven earlier in the frame.
The Irish finally broke through when Isaiah Sanders tied the game on a layup but Fitzwater immediately set the tone afterwards scoring Greater Beckley’s first three points of the frame to reestablish its lead.
“I just let the game come to me,” Fitzwater said. “Keegan (Davidson), Eli (Gunter) and Javonte (Spencer), all my guards did a job of just giving me the ball.”
The Irish proved unshakable, countering Fitzwater with an assault from Sanders who scored seven straight for them to give them a 35-33 lead. But one of Greater Beckley’s two makes from distance proved timely as Eli Gunter’s 3 with 2:41 left gave the Crusaders the lead for good. From there they rode Fitzwater home.
“There was no need for nerves,” Fitzwater said. “It’s just another game. That’s what we’ve been talking about before. Same 32-minute game, same 10-foot rims so just go out there and do what we do.”
Fitzwater was the only Crusader to reach double digits while Gunter netted nine and Davidson eight. Sanders led all scorers with 20 points while Micaiah Ehirim finished with 18.
