The Red Flash had turned around a 10-17 season with six straight victories to win the Northeast Conference Tournament this year and its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
And so last Sunday they held a watch party so everyone could experience their name being called to join the tournament bracket.
Cranford – a two-sport athlete at Wayne High School who was named the Greater Western Ohio Conference Player of the Year last basketball season – had had a storybook first season at Saint Francis, being named the NEC Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player of the conference tournament.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
“When they brought us back to town from the tournament it was like a parade,” he said. “We were escorted by police cars. People were out of their houses cheering and there was confetti.
“For the (watch) party, they gave out free t-shirts and the gym was crowded but the power went out,” he said. “A tree fell on the power lines and knocked everything out.
“But we weren’t in the dark. They brought in lots of generators and lanterns and all kinds of stuff. It worked out pretty good.
“We made some things happen.”
Did they ever.
The Red Flash (16-17) were made a 16 seed and sent to Dayton for a First Four matchup with another 16 seed, Alabama State (19-15), Tuesday night.
Theirs became the opening game of this year’s NCAA Tournament and, in front of a packed house at UD Arena and a national TV audience, the two teams put an exclamation point behind March Madness.
Saint Francis – thanks to Cranford’s long-range shooting in what would become an 18-point, 8-rebound night, both game highs – led most of the contest until the final minutes when Alabama A & M took a four-point lead only to have the game tied up again, 68-68, with 3.4 seconds left.
After a time out, Alabama State inbounded the ball at the far end of the court and pulled off what will end up one of the most jaw-dropping plays of this year’s tournament.
It was a play the Hornets said they’ve practiced often, but one coach Tony Madlock admitted he’d never seen work for them before.
Junior guard Micah Simpson inbounded the ball with a perfect, length-of-the-court baseball pass – a Hail Mary of Hoops – that came down into a scrum of six players, all jostling with outstretched arms.
Cranford got knocked onto his back in the battle; the ball went off the fingertips of two Alabama State players and deflected to their teammate, sophomore guard Amarr Knox, who flicked in the lay-up just before the final gun to give Alabama State the 70-68 victory and turn out the lights on Saint Francis once again.
“I honestly can’t believe it,” Cranford said as he sat in the dressing room later. “I tried to get the ball and went down. Their guy jumped over me and got it. It was a tough play by him. I give him credit.”
Cranford showing class afterward is part of his makeup and it’s why he had such a loving following at UD Arena Tuesday night.
His parents were in the stands as were some 30 other family members and friends.
And up in Section 219 was his No. 1 fan, seven-year-old Xavier Martindale and both his dad, Nathan “Nate” Martindale, the head basketball coach at Wayne, and his grandpa Brent Martindale.
“Juan’s like family,” Nate Martindale said. And the depth of that bond comes from the connection Xavier has with his hero.
Last season, Xavier sat on the varsity bench during games and got to be around Cranford, who was drawn to him, as well.
“Just the way Juan related to him and treated him like somebody special – to see that as a father, to see a young man impact your son like that - that was something I’ll never forget.”
Nate Martindale brought his son to UD Arena early Tuesday night:
“I have a seven-year-old who’s about as excited as you can be right now.”
And when Cranford hit back-to-back three pointers – 18 seconds apart early in the game – an overjoyed Xavier was jumping up and down in front of his seat like popcorn in a hot skillet.
After the game, when he heard about that, Cranford lit up and quietly laughed:
“A shout out to Coach Nate and especially Xavier. Those two always support me. That, and seeing my Pops up there in the stands smiling, and hearing the crowd, it felt good coming home.”
Back on the basketball map
Saint Francis was the only school to offer Cranford a Division I scholarship.
He had played defensive end and linebacker for the Wayne football team, but said basketball was “the sport in my heart.”
Before his senior year, he dropped 30 pounds, muscled up in the weight room and the change was dramatic, especially in basketball, culminating with his player of the year recognition.
He had not played traveling AAU basketball said Martindale and his late emergence limited the Division I interest he drew.
Former Saint Francis player and assistant coach Eric Taylor, who’s from the Cincinnati area, spotted Cranford in the high school tournament last year and thought Red Flash coach Rob Krimmel, his former college teammate, would be interested in him.
Krimmel called Martindale, who remembers their conversation:
“He said, ‘Hey, Nate, I recruit high school kids.’
“A lot of college coaches right now, with the way things are changing, aren’t going to recruit high school kids. They’re just going to wait and see what they do and then grab them out of the (transfer) portal.
“But Coach Trimmel believed in Juan and it was a match made in heaven.”
Cranford made his college debut at UD Arena when the Red Flash opened the season with the Dayton Flyers.
UD won by 30, but the 6-foot-3 guard came off the bench, made three of four shots and finished with nine points.
By the sixth game he was starting, and it wasn’t long before he had a string of seven double-digit scoring games, including 21 at Maryland, where he made 8 of 11 shots, and at Robert Morris, where his 19 points, included seven-of-nine shooting from the floor and five treys.
Before Trimmel called him, Cranford said he’d never heard of Saint Francis.
Although the school has had some real basketball talents over the years – from Maurice Stokes, the Cincinnati Royals star who was the NBA Rookie of the Year to former NBA point guards Kevin Porter and Norm Van Lier and the 1991 NCAA Tournament team – as Cranford put it:
“We hadn’t been on the basketball map for over 30 years.”
He helped change that this year.
“The sky’s the limit”
“Saint Francis and Coach Krimmel took a chance on him and now it’s paying dividends,” said Cranford’s dad, Juan. Sr., who’s an assistant coach at Wayne. “Watching him grow and learn and excel has been the best part of this journey.”
Cranford averaged 10 points and 4.1 rebounds a game this season and led the team in steals and free throw percentage.
Tuesday night he made six of 12 field goal attempts and was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. At one point he had the crowd exhale in chorused disbelief when one of his trey attempts rattled the rim and shook out.
“I wish it would have ended different, but it was great to be back in Dayton and feel love,” he said.
“And I’m glad I got to do it with this team. The coaches believed in and trusted me. I love this group.
“I think this is just the beginning and if I just keep working, the sky’s the limit. I think I could have a bright future.”
Looking ahead, Juan Cranford Jr. sees the lights being on.
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