Seeing so many buzzer beaters on the final night of the D1 tournament gave Boyd coach Brian Reed the only pregame talking point he needed. The Broncos had been the dominant team all year, but if they weren’t prepared to take care of business, Irving College would be ready to pounce.

Playing their usual fierce full-court defense and getting a huge performance from Justin Spry, the Broncos were able to claim the D1 elementary title Thursday at Bobby Ray, beating Irving College 38-6. Spry was named MVP of the tournament after scoring a game-high 15 points – all coming in the first half as Boyd led wire-to-wire for its first D1 championship.

Reed has been watching this current group of Broncos take beatings as they started playing as youngsters in the elementary league years ago. Now that the group has grown up, it was a proud moment for their coach when he saw the Broncos grab the trophy following a terrific performance in the championship game.

“Years in the making,” said Reed, who still has a number of fourth- and fifth-graders in his regular rotation. “The best part was seeing the boys celebrate. I push them  really hard and have expectations for them - they've accepted the challenge and it was a great payoff for their hard work."

Doing his best to help the Irving College Tigers stay in it during the finals was Cash Lusk, who finished with four points in the title tilt. Lusk was a big reason the Tigers, who finished third in the regular season, made it to the finals as he had 11 points in a 27-20 win over West Elementary in the semifinals.

Adding to the Tiger total was Liam DeLong, who scored an early bucket for Irving College before Boyd was able to rush out to big lead by halftime.

During the finals, Boyd had one last goal to accomplish once it built a 28-4 advantage by the break. The close-knit Broncos had seen every player on its roster get at last one bucket during the season, but Colton Vinson was ready to join the party in the final game. Vinson banked in a jumper in the fourth quarter, sending the entire bench and large Boyd crowd into celebration just moments before the group would claim the title.

Dealing with the pressure didn’t seem to bother many of the Broncos as they had spread out scoring to win big in the finals. Ryder Reed finished with seven points, Braxton Wingate added six and Vinson, Briggs Springer, Gabe Patterson, River Griffith and Brody Stockling scored two points apiece. 

Yells of praise could be heard following the game when Wingate, Reed and Griffith joined Spry in earning postseason accolades. The trio was named to the all-tournament team, as were Lusk, Delong and Ridge Green from the Tigers.