Turner Scott. For. The. Win. Valley beats Pleasant Valley in 2OT semifinal, 50-48. #iahsbkb pic.twitter.com/wmINpTx33T
— Chris Cuellar (@cuellarchris) March 11, 2016
Friday was a day full of insane buzzer beaters from all levels of basketball. In college, there was the trio of ridiculous last-second shots in conference tournaments – Michigan’s Kam Chatman kept his team’s NCAA Tournament hopes alive, Jalen Adams somehow hit a desperation heave to force a fourth OT for UConn against Cincinnati, and even though Buddy Hield’s shot against West Virginia didn’t count, it was still impressive. On the NBA side, there was Ricky Rubio sinking the Thunder with a clutch three-pointer to give the T-Wolves a surprise road win.
Not to be outdone, the Iowa 4A state semifinals between Valley and Pleasant Valley gave high school ball some drama on Friday as well. The two teams were even through four quarters and the first OT. After Valley secured the tip in the second OT session, head coach B.J. Windhorst decided to take advantage of the fact that there is no shot clock in Iowa boys basketball and told his team to sit on the ball for the entire four-minute period. This was done so Valley could take the game’s final shot.
With Pleasant Valley unable to force a turnover, their only hope was to prevent Valley from hitting the game-winner at the buzzer. Unfortunately for them, that’s where Turner Scott comes in, as he shook his defender and made a tough floater at the horn to give his team the victory.
After the game, Windhorst explained his strategy, saying he wanted to ensure that Pleasant Valley’s Will Carius, who scored 34 points, didn’t get a shot to beat him in the second OT. Via: The Des Moines Register.
“We got the tip, and were moving the ball around and I looked up and saw there was 2:35 left,” Windhorst said. “I figured, ‘Well, if they’re not going to come out, why would we go shoot quick and give Carius a chance?’
“We’ll just whittle it down, use our timeouts and get the last shot and make sure they can’t have a chance to win it.”
Only eight states use a shot clock in high school hoops (being as I lived in one of those eight states growing up, I didn’t even know it was a thing not to have one until today) so I’m actually surprised you don’t see this kind of thing more often. If nothing else, it certainly makes the jump ball much more dramatic.
(Via The Des Moines Register)
