Years from now, Peekskill fans will be talking about Jaden Chavis’ flu game that saw the standout junior leave the bench with 6 minutes on the clock to carry his team to a dramatic win Wednesday night. The Red Devils defeated Binghamton 53-52 and now play Lourdes on Friday at 7 p.m. in the AA State Regional Final at Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh.
Chavis, who started the game sidelined with the flu, got out of his sweats and entered the contest that was tied. In an account by Kevin Devaney of KDJMedia, who did the play by play from the County Center last week, Devaney tweeted that Chavis came out of a Peekskill timeout looking like he was struggling for energy and took a baseline drive around a screen and made a reverse layup to put Peekskill up by 1.
“During the timeout before the play, Chavis walked down the Peekskill bench and chugged water. I thought for sure he was going to vomit. His cough was as deep as you’ll hear out of a human being. Once the final buzzer sounded, I followed Chavis during the celebration. He was winded,” related Devaney on his Twitter account.
Chavis made a reverse layup with 59 seconds to give Peekskill a 51-50 lead. His heroic return from the locker room contributed a basket, a rebound, a block and an assist, all critical in the heart-stopping win.
The key play to win for the Red Devils was the steal of a cross court pass and runaway layup by junior guard Isaiah Crawford in the final seconds. Crawford stepped up in Chavis absence and led the Red Devils with 18 points, followed by Travis Brown and Zeke Jones with 11 each. Marquett Webster scored 7 points and Amir Thames 4, and Chavis scored two.
Peekskill’s secret weapon was the loud and enthusiastic fan base that traveled to Yorktown. Nearly 700 Red Devil supporters packed the Yorktown gym and brought the energy to a peak down the stretch and throughout the night.
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