Murphy – The Andrews basketball team was in disbelief.
After Murphy’s Dillian Brown hit two free throws to put the Bulldogs in front with 1.5 seconds left in overtime, they set up a great inbounds play.
Cam Rattler inbounded the ball, tossed it to Drew Martin on the baseline, who threw it down court to Donovan Bateman. From just inside half court, Bateman drilled a 3-pointer that would have been the game-winner. The only problem was the clock operator at Murphy High School started the clock too early, so nothing counted.
So the final 1.5 seconds were replayed and, once again, Rattler passed the ball to Martin, who this time found Ty Clark. Clark’s three-quarter court heave had the distance, but bounced off the right rim.
A game that could have
went either way would go to Murphy, with the score reading the same thing it did before the final 1.5 seconds.
“There ain’t no negatives to talk about,” Wildcats head coach Matt Maennle said. “My kids played hard, they did what they were asked to do all night, we’re close, we’re really close. We just got to keep working.”
The clock mishap put a pall over what had been a back-and-forth game. Despite having Cam Rattler on the bench with foul trouble for most of the second quarter, the Wildcats led 38-30 at halftime thanks to a breakout performance from Clark. The sophomore had 16 points in the half on his way to a game-high 21.
He was a welcome sight for Andrews, which hasn’t had a lot of consistent scoring recently outside of Rattler and Donovan Bateman. Even usual starter Austin Martin recognized the night Clark was having, telling Maennle that after he plays the first possessions of the third quarter that Clark should check back in the game.
“We knew it was coming,” Maennle said of Clark. “We kept having to be positive with him. He’s young.”
The Wildcats opened up a 56-45 lead after a 3-pointer from Bateman with about six minutes left. Murphy answered with a 13-0 run, with Brown’s layup giving the Bulldogs their first lead since the opening minutes.
“Just to continue to grind and play hard, hard defense,” Brown said of his team’s mentality. “Our offense will come, our defense (needs to) be there always. Coach (Erik Laney) says defense wins games.”
Murphy led 65-60 with 40.7 seconds left, but a 3-pointer from Ellis – followed by a missed Bulldogs’ free throw and a second-chance layup from Clark – tied the game. Bateman started off overtime with a three-point play, and Zach Skogen hit a layup about a minute later to cut the lead to one.
The Wildcats were fouled twice while shooting and only hit one of two free throws both times, allowing Murphy to stay in the game. Dominick Rummler, who had 19 points to lead the Bulldogs, was double-teamed and found Ty Laney for a layup with under a minute left. After Bateman missed the front end of a one-and-one, Brown drove to the hoops and was fouled, hitting two free throws to seal the win.
“This is the most balanced competition I may have ever seen inside the conference,” Erik Laney said. “There are no easy nights. Any team can win on any given night pending how they match up with each other. These young men have been in enough close games to understand you have to find a way to give yourself a chance to win at the end.”