COLUMBIA, MO – Last season, Derrick Rivers II provided the offensive spark in Cardinal Ritter’s playoff run to a state championship.
On Saturday, he ignited the defense.
“Every day at practice, that’s what we preach. Defense fuels our offense, and it led us to this win,” Rivers said.
Rivers made a pair of fourth quarter steals that led to breakaway dunks and helped propel Cardinal Ritter to a 52-42 victory over Chaminade to capture the Class 6 state title at the 2024 Show-Me-Showdown at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
Cardinal Ritter (21-11), which won the Class 5 title last season, took home a state championship trophy for fourth time in the last five seasons – in three different classifications.
“Class 3, Class 5, Class 6, it’s a fight, and sometimes you get tired of fighting, but I rejoice in the fact that we fought to the end and finished the right way,” said Cardinal Ritter coach Ryan Johnson.
The Lions moved to a remarkable 11-0 in state championship games and joined the Cardinal Ritter football team and girls track team as repeat state champions.
“We have a lot of great people (at Cardinal Ritter) who love kids. We teach more life lessons than anything, and through the character we’re building with these kids, the other stuff will take care of itself,” Johnson said.
The life lesson of overcoming adversity took center stage this season as a brutal early schedule dealt Cardinal Ritter a string of losses. An 18-point home loss at the hands of East St. Louis saddled the Lions with a 4-10 record at the halfway point.
“You can’t imagine the amount of team meetings, the heart-to-hearts,” Johnson said. “Losing is something that nobody wants to deal with. It was tough.”
Rivers added, “We had to find the motivation to keep going, try to tweak and fix the stuff we did wrong and build up to this moment right here.”
Against Chaminade in the Class 6 title game, adversity reappeared.
Chaminade (22-10) turned the game into a halfcourt battle where open shots were unavailable. Cardinal Ritter shot 2-for-16 from the field in the second quarter, scored five points and went into halftime trailing 22-21.
“The defensive strategy that we had was conducive for it being a lower-scoring game, which we were fine with,” Chaminade coach Frank Bennett said.
Strong ball-handling by sophomores Jonny Jordan and Tricy Collins helped Chaminade limit itself to seven turnovers for the game, despite the immense perimeter pressure employed by the Lions. Sophomore Jamo White soared for offensive rebounds and scored 16 of the first 26 points for the Red Devils, which took a 29-28 lead into the final minute of the third quarter.
But led by senior Nashawn Davis, Cardinal Ritter began to find its footing offensively. A strong drive by Davis resulted in an and-1 to give the Lions the lead. A steal and breakaway dunk by Davis before the third-quarter buzzer gave Ritter a 33-29 lead and a burst of momentum.
“Everything that we went through led to this, and when the big moment came, there was no hesitation. If we were going to win this game, I had to play big and play strong,” said Davis, who led the Lions with 18 points.
A three-ball by senior James Porter, who connected on only four shots from long distance during the season, boosted the Ritter lead to 36-29 with seven minutes to play.
“In a game like this, when you have a five-point swing, it feels like a 10-point swing,” Bennett said.
A dunk by junior Ben Winker off a slick, wrap-around pass by junior Collin Perry sliced the Chaminade deficit to five points before Rivers made the winning plays to get Cardinal Ritter near the finish line.
First, Rivers swished an 18-foot jumper from the corner. Then, he stole a pass at midcourt and fed senior Quenton Parker for a thunderous, one-handed, tomahawk jam. Another Rivers steal sent Davis ahead for a breakaway dunk that increased the lead to 42-31 with 2:11 remaining.
“We had to get to a point where we could withstand the run they typically go on in their games, and we withstood it for about three quarters, but they strung together a few good plays that put it out of reach for us,” Bennett said.
Cardinal Ritter clinched the victory at the free throw line by going 10-for-12 in the final two minutes.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Davis remembered the handshake lines during loss after loss, the arguments in practice, the questioning of whether they were good enough.
“Everything made sense,” Davis said.
Johnson, who called the season the hardest he has gone through as a coach, soaked in the trophy presentation ceremony while listening to chants of ‘RJ for President’ emanating through Mizzou Arena.
“We spent a lot of time this year taking huge losses against major teams, number 1 in the country, players going to Duke, but all of that prepared them for this moment right here,” Johnson said.
He added, “These guys fought and I’m extremely proud of them.”
Photos can be found at @metro_sports_stl Instagram
