OH, BROTHER!
Henderson hits buzzer-beating 3-pointer as Brother Rice upsets Fenwick in Catholic Blue
In 2018, Brother Rice’s Ahmad Henderson played in a Midwest Regional game of the Jr. NBA Global Championship. He hit a one-legged, off-balance shot that beat the buzzer and clinched the win in Indianapolis for the Mac Irvin Fire.
The opponent?
“I don’t remember,” Henderson said. The 5-foot-9 sophomore point guard buried a 3-point basket with three seconds left Friday night in Chicago, and it came against an opponent he will never forget.
Henderson’s shot from the corner turned out to be the winning basket, lifting the host Crusaders to a 54-53 Catholic League Blue victory over Fenwick.
The Friars (7-2, 6-1) were ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press poll.
“That shot in Indianapolis was nothing like this,” Henderson said, minutes after being mobbed by his teammates. “To beat a team like Fenwick is huge. They are one of the top teams in the Catholic League, and now we are.”
Henderson, who received the pass from Cullen Cosme, finished with a team-high 15 points to lead the Crusaders (7-0, 7-0).
Fenwick star Bryce Hopkins, a Kentucky recruit, scored 24 points. His quest with a shot to win the game fell short, however, a mere 24 hours after he beat the buzzer to force overtime in a 63-61 victory over St. Ignatius.
Henderson said he wasn’t nervous about taking the shot.
“It was nothing,” he said. “I just let it go.” Henderson has been working on his shooting since he was 4. His father, also named Ahmad, trained him. The elder Henderson is a former Marine, and discipline was always present during those workouts. The Crete resident said he was home-schooled in seventh grade. There was plenty of basketball work before schoolwork.
“We would wake up and go to the gym at 5 or 6 in the morning,” Henderson said of his dad. “So, I thank him for that.”
Brother Rice coach Bobby Frasor was thankful the ball was in Henderson’s hands for the final shot. Henderson corralled a rebound off a missed free throw by Fenwick, giving the ball back to the Crusaders, and Frasor called a timeout.
Interestingly enough, Brother Race ran a play it had never used before in a game. The Crusaders had never run the play in practice either, but Henderson was open.
He caught the ball on the right side and sank the shot.
“I told the players we were going for the win, and he was the one I wanted to take the shot,” Frasor said of Henderson. “He rises to the occasion.
“The execution of the play was great by the whole team. It’s a simpler play, and we have a smart team. I was so proud of them.”
Cosme finished with 13 points and Luke Moustakas added nine, including seven in the first quarter.
The Crusaders were in trouble in the second quarter, trailing 30-19 with 4:05 left, but they outscored the Friars 11-2 the rest of the way to close the gap to 32-30 at halftime.
Henderson and Cosme each had four
points in that span. Then, Henderson and Brandon Bryant each scored five points in the third quarter as Brother Rice grabbed a 45-44 lead heading into the fourth.
“There have been a couple of games this year when Fenwick had big leads early and teams clawed back,” Frasor said. “We switched to a zone and that threw them for a loop a little bit. Bryant got a few deflections and we started making some plays.
“It was an awesome, awesome win.”