Anna’s Evan Myers blocks a shot attempt by Tri-Village’s Trey Sagester in the first half. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Logan Howard)
Anna’s late-season run was in jeopardy in the fourth quarter. But the Rockets dominated the final four minutes, and senior Evan Myers played the hero again.
Vandalia, OH – Anna’s late comeback stirred up the crowd, rattled nerves and built hope. But time was running out, and the Rockets still needed to make a big shot to keep their magical late-season run alive. And everyone in green and white wanted senior Evan Myers to take the shot.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Myers has made winning shots before. Naturally, he wanted to be the guy again.
“You want this as a kid,” he said. “You want the ball in your hands, and you always dream about it and hitting the shot to have a chance to go to state.”
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During a timeout with 13 seconds left and the Rockets trailing Tri-Village by one in the Division VI regional semifinals, Anna coach Nate Barhorst called a play for Myers.
“It was absolutely the decision I was going to go to from the very start,” Barhorst said.
Even senior guard Jacob Feroze, whose three 3-pointers helped keep the Rockets close in the second half, wanted Myers to get the final shot.
“Evan was hot the whole game,” Feroze said. “I wanted him to take the shot.”
Anna’s Kyle Edelmann puts up a shot over Tri-Village’s Dom Black.
Anna threw the ball in to Myers on the left sideline, Feroze set a hard screen for Myers above the top of the key, Myers dribbled and curled toward the basket. He pulled up from 15 feet on the right wing and took the shot.
And just like everyone on his team expected – nothing but net.
The ball passed through the rim with seven seconds left to give the Rockets a one-point lead. Tri-Village called timeout with 5.2 seconds left. They got the ball to their best player, Trey Sagester, who rushed up the floor and let a contested, leaning-to-the-right shot go just in time. But the ball found only rim and bounced harmlessly to the floor.
And Anna coaches and players burst from its bench and did a March dance, the team surrounded Myers and the celebration of a 47-46 victory over a team they weren’t supposed to beat was just beginning.
“I feel like everybody trusts me,” Myers said. “I couldn’t have done it without that great screen that he set.”
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This wasn’t Myers’ first big shot. He made a game-winner last year and one this year against Indian Lake from the same spot as Tuesday’s shot. Barhorst was happy Myers got to be the hero.
“He’s been through some battles,” Barhorst said. “Expectations were a little higher, maybe some accolades he didn’t get towards the end of season.”
So the coach and his senior had a late-season talk.
Anna’s A.J. Barhorst battles for a rebound with Tri-Village’s Noah Finkbine.
“That’s in the past, but what we got to concentrate on is what you can do for this team,” Barhorst said.
“You’re right,” Myers said. “I’m going to do that.”
In a late-season win over Versailles, Myers scored 28 points. He scored 15 Saturday against Fort Recovery, and he scored 14 Tuesday.
Myers making winning shots isn’t the only good groove the Rockets are in. They started the season 6-10 but have won 10 straight to get to 16-10. They rallied from 10 down late in a win over Versailles, then rallied from 10 down with 1:09 left to beat Jackson Center in overtime.
At 6-10, Barhorst had a heart-to-heart talk with his team. He asked if anyone wanted to give up on the season. No one raised a hand. So Barhorst said they had to play more physical, some guys needed to play better, and collectively they needed to play outside of their comfort zone or nothing would change. But things changed.
“It’s believing in each other, and I don’t know … God has a different plan for us,” Feroze said. “Everything’s just falling and everything’s working for us. Everything’s clicking.”
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To keep the season alive, a lot of things had to click in the fourth quarter. Tri-Village (23-3) had owned the second half after trailing by two at halftime. When Sagester, who was held to 13 points, scored on a backdoor layup and Dom Black scored in the low post, the Patriots led 44-36 with 4:05 left.
Anna had been in worse spots. They didn’t panic and outscored the Patriots 11-2 down the stretch. Myers’ 3-pointer from the left corner and Feroze’s deep 3-pointer from the top cut the lead to 44-43 with 2:20 left.
Anna’s Kyle Edelmann blocks a shot attempt by Tri-Village’s Dom Black.
Noah Finkbine scored for the Patriots with 1:07 left, but Alex Shappie followed in a missed shot with 45 seconds left. Then Anna turned to a fouling strategy that worked. They quickly fouled twice to get to four fouls with 31 seconds left. But Barhorst didn’t want to foul again and send the Patriots to the line for two shots unless he had to.
The plan was to try to tie up whoever caught the inbounds pass because the arrow was pointing toward Anna. And when Sagester was surrounded, Myers – who else – tied him up with 26 seconds left. And then it was Myers’ turn to take the shot.
“We found a way to lose tonight,” Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester said. “And I haven’t found a lot of those in my career. But tonight we definitely found a way to do that.”
While Tri-Village doesn’t have a senior on the roster and will expect to return to regionals to right what it will perceive as a wrong, Anna starts four seniors and a junior. And when that experience began to matter, the Rockets launched a winning streak no one saw coming. And they beat a highly regarded team Tuesday when the run was supposed to end.
“That tells us we can play with anyone – we can play with the big boys,” Barhorst said.
The big boys from Marion Local, led by 6-foot-8 Austin Niekamp, stand in the way of Anna, an 11th straight win and a berth in the state semifinals. The Flyers roughed up Cincinnati Miami Valley Christian Academy 64-29 in the other semifinal. In late December, Marion defeated Anna 61-40.
But when they meet at 2 p.m. Saturday at Wright State’s Nutter Center, the Rockets won’t feel added pressure. They are counting down the hours.
“We got nothing to lose and everything to prove, and that’s how we’ve been playing,” Barhorst said. “We want to keep dancing. It’s March – we’re still dancing.”
Anna celebrates after the final buzzer, surrounding Evan Myers who hit the winning shot.
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