Plainsmen Victorious on Buzzer Beater
BORGER – The Plainsmen had some excitement in their home victory yesterday in the BCAC. They took on New Mexico Junior College from Hobbs, NM in yet again another tough conference matchup. The Plainsmen started slow going down 7-0 to start the game which caused Head Coach Jason Sautter to take an early timeout. The Plainsmen were able to regroup and cut into the lead heading into the midway mark of the first half. Both teams continued to trade buckets, but the Plainsmen were able to hit a big 3 pointer to go into the halftime break only down 28-29.
The Plainsmen were able to come out of the break continuing their hot shooting and went up by 5 points at the first media break. The momentum started to swing towards the visiting Thunderbirds as they weathered the storm and were now making a run of their own. The 27-11 run saw the Plainsmen down 11 with 4 minutes to play until Will Hynes hit a 3 pointer. The Thunderbirds tried to close out the Plainsmen as they went up by 9 with under 2 minutes to play.
The Plainsmen were helped again by Will Hynes as he drained another 3 pointer to cut the lead to 6. The Thunderbirds had some crucial turnovers late which the Plainsmen capitalized on and saw their lead dwindling away along with the clock.This exciting game which saw 10 lead changes would eventually head to overtime. The final 5 minutes were as exciting as the first 40.
The thunderbirds were not able to convert any field goals but saw all 6 of their points in OT come from the charity stripe. The Plainsmen on the other hand could not convert from the charity stripe and we were yet again tied at 76 with just 7 seconds to play.
Coach Sautter called the team’s final timeout to draw a play up to possibly win the game. 3 seconds on the shot clock, ball under the Plainsmen basket, and everybody on edge the Plainsmen were playing with house money as the score was tied. The sequence went, missed 3 pointer, offensive rebound, and finally a buzzer beating layup by Jailan Ardoin that brought the home crowd to a deafening roar and saw the Plainsmen victorious!