Boys Basketball: Crowe’s buzzer beater lifts Shawnee past KR in OT

The ball rolled off the left side of the rim and catapulted high into the air, clanged onto the front of the iron, caromed off the backboard and dropped into the cylinder to lift the Braves to a 74-72 come-from-behind victory on Friday night at rival Kenton Ridge.

“I honestly thought when it hit the back of the rim, it was over,” he said. “Luckily, we got a couple of bounces. As soon as it went in, I couldn’t believe it.”

Crowe and senior teammate Jamon Miller each scored 17 points, sophomore R.J. Griffin had 14 points and senior Drew Mitch added 11 for the Braves.

“Any time you can start the year — obviously, this is the craziest year we’ve ever had — and you can win a road conference game at your rival school, we’ll take it,” said Shawnee coach Chris McGuire. “We’ll take the bounce, however it rolls. We’ll take the bounce. The guys executed what we wanted to do on that last play.”

The Braves (1-0, 1-0 Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division) called timeout with about 10 seconds remaining. Griffin threw the ball into junior Patrick Fultz, who dribbled inside the key off a double screen set by Mitch and Crowe. Fultz had multiple options — drive the ball to the hoop, pass it to Mitch rolling to the paint or pass it back to Crowe for a jumper.

“Both guys went to Drew diving to the rim and that left (Zion) wide open, which we said would be an option if they sucked in,” McGuire said. “He took his time. As soon as the ball was in the air, I said ‘That’s got a shot’. … We didn’t play the way we wanted to and we’ve got a lot of things to work on, but we’ll take it.”

Kenton Ridge seniors Malcolm McKay and Chase Younts each had 18 points and senior Michael Severt added 17 as the Cougars fell to 0-2 on the season. KR coach Kris Spriggs was pleased with his team’s effort following a 69-41 loss at Catholic Central last Friday night.

“After the first quarter, we settled down and started playing better defense,” he said. “Our kids grinded. We were up six with about 2.5 minutes to go, but we made some decisions that cost us and created some easy buckets for them. We had our chances. I told my kids I’m proud of the way they came back and fought. We just have to learn from it and hope it helps us the next time we’re in that situation.”

The Braves led by 10 midway through the first quarter, but were slowed by foul trouble in the second quarter. The two teams combined for 29 fouls in the first half, including 17 by Shawnee. The Cougars cut the deficit to 43-40 at halftime.

“I liked the way we played early on,” McGuire said. “We had some momentum, but we couldn’t stop from fouling or whatever the case was with that. We lost our momentum and (KR) did a good job of really attacking us. We had a lot of guys respond. We had to play a lot of guys and we battled through it.”

Shawnee jumped out to a 6-0 run to start the third quarter, grabbing a 49-40 lead. The Cougars then went on a 15-0 run, taking a 55-49 lead on a basket by Severt.

KR led 64-58 with about three minutes remaining, but an 8-0 run gave the Braves a 66-64 lead on a layup by Crowe with about a minute remaining. On its next possession, McKay hit Younts for a layup to tie the score at 66 with about 50 seconds remaining.

Each team had chances to win the game at the end of regulation, but neither fell, sending the game into overtime.

The Cougars will now hit the road for five of their next six games. They travel to Bellbrook on Tuesday night.

“It’s a tough way to lose,” Spriggs said. “It was a big shot the kid made, bounced what five or six times before it went through. I’m proud of the way the kids bounced back from last week, I just wish we had something to reward them with.”

The Braves travel to Tecumseh on Friday, Dec. 11.

“We’ve got to guard better,” McGuire said. “That’s a big thing. I thought the ball stuck in too many guys’ hands offensively. We’ve got a lot of things to work on.”