It all came down to this. The seniors had been honored, tears were shed, and the fans were ecstatic! Our district rival, St. John of Plaquemine had the ball with just over two seconds on the clock. Our small forward, Dustin Blanchard, who also happened to be one of the two seniors honored that night, just drained what everyone had thought to be the game-winning lay-up. The noise was deafening as St. John’s Hayden Heminway stood to throw in what had to be a full court pass, a prayer to win the game. The referee blew his whistle and began to count to five. Hayden cocked back and heaved the ball three quarters of the court!
We had set up in the perfect defense, and were in position to intercept the ball. Time began to slow as the ball skimmed my teammates fingers, and landed perfectly in Tyler St. Germain’s–whom we mockingly referred to as “Goggles”– hand. Time was ticking, and he shot the ball towards the goal. Time slowed down as the ball hit the hoop, and teetered on the back of the rim for what seemed like a lifetime. The ball fell through the net. Game over. St. John defeated Ascension Christian on their senior night, with a buzzer beating lay-up. The worst part was that I could do nothing but watch, because I was ruled ineligible by the LHSAA.
I promised myself that next year would be different, that we would avenge the senior night buzzer beater, and beat St. John. We would put them back where they belonged: last in the district. New team, new year, same rivalry. I was finally eligible after a long season on the bench due to me transferring to Ascension Christian my freshman year, and still fueled by the last-second loss to St. John last year. We knew they were in the same tournament as us, but we did not know if or when we would get a chance at revenge. We did. We were set to play St. John in our second game of the Round Robin.
The first game was against Catholic High of Point Coupee; we won by five. The game was emotional, but we all knew it was nothing to compared to what was coming that next morning. The next morning, the ride to the gym was silent, and everyone was focused on the task at hand. Memories from the year before still hung on every one of our minds. Warm-ups were as serious as ever. No one was joking around as we knew what was coming. The whole team was ready for war, emotionally and physically. The whistle blew, it was game time, and the gym was packed yet again. The ref threw the ball up for the tip, and we got it!
The game went back and forth until around the third quarter when St. John began to pull away. We could not put the ball in the basket no matter what we did, and found ourselves down by ten towards the end of the third. When the buzzer sounded we headed to the bench, confident, but worried at the same time. If we won this game, we would win the tournament, something we have never done in the six years we have played in this specific tournament. The fourth quarter started, and we began to mount a comeback. Our defense was impenetrable, and our offense was on fire.
We were getting lay-up after lay-up, and they could barely bring the ball up the court. Their offense went cold, missing everything they shot towards the basket, and it seemed as if we could not have missed if we tried. Midway through the fourth, the game was tied! The crowd and our team was electric, but we could not celebrate yet. St. John was not going down easy. The game was back and forth yet again, but only one team could prevail, and both sides were too drained for overtime. With fifteen seconds left, we were up by one, and St. John had the ball.
They brought the ball up the court and immediately ound, who else, but Goggles in the corner for a long two, and he nailed it! “TIMEOUT! ” “Freaking Goggles again! ” yelled Coach Stone. Everyone on our team looked drained. We all had a serious feeling of deja vu, but somewhere in the back of our minds, we knew the game was not going to end like that. It was not over yet. We did not even draw up a play, we knew what we had to do. Seven seconds left to avenge the loss last year, and make ACH history. Remi stood to throw the ball in, and rocketed a ball to Zac, our point guard, who dribbled up the court right into a trap! He had to get rid of the ball!
With only five seconds left, he dished the ball off to our center, Seth, who looked as if he was going to pull up for a three pointer from about twenty-five feet! But he did not. Instead he zipped a pass right into my hands, and time began to slow, the adrenaline began to set in, and my heart along with everyone else’s began to race. I had to shoot; it was now or never. All I could see was the goal, and the ball. Everything around me seemed to go black, the gym was quiet, and it was just me and the basket. I shot, and fell backwards from what I would later learn was a St. John player fouling me which was not called.
The ball fell straight through the net and the whole gym went insane! With less than one second on the clock, St. John threw up a prayer that missed by a mile, and we won the game and the tournament! Coach Stone, along with many other friends and teammates ran and tackled me to the ground! We did it! Last years last second loss was avenged, and we beat St. John. This game sparked what is now a rivalry game to which both schools look forward. Every game is intense. None, however, will be as intense, or mean quite as much as the game when we beat St. John at the buzzer to avenge our Senior night loss the year before.