Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Charleston – Rayden Triplett and Zach McCourt had never heard of Christian Laettner and Grant Hill.
They have now.
Wednesday night the Webster County standouts duplicated the miracle Duke buzzer-beater from the 1992 NCAA Tournament to send the Highlanders past two-time defending Class A state champion James Monroe, 55-53 in the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
Webster County advances to the semifinals where it will meet No. 1 seed Tucker County Friday at 11:15 a.m.
“If you look at the stats, the game was even. It was a physical game,” Webster County head coach Mike Gray said. “Probably the biggest stat that kept them in the game was foul shots. They didn’t shoot that well, but we shot poorly. We made it interesting.”
Triplett talked about the miracle play to end the game.
“I knew Zach was going to throw it to me last second. I was ready for that ball,” Triplett said. “When I caught it I had to think for a second because I couldn’t believe I caught it. I caught it, turned around and made it. I couldn’t believe it.”
The first quarter was played at a rapid pace which ultimately favored the Highlanders who were red-hot from behind the arc.
Triplett made all three of his attempts and Logan Leichliter added another. When Riley Clevenger banked in a tough jumper to beat the buzzer, the Highlanders led 20-12 after the first eight minutes.
The Mavericks also were their own worst enemy committing five turnovers that led to eight points for Webster County in the quarter.
A pair of 3-pointers from Layton Dowdy and a score from Ryan Mann helped pull James Monroe within two points midway through the second period before the Highlanders heated up once again.
The lead was still two points with 2:20 to play when Leichliter scored twice in a row in the paint for a six point lead.
Triplett then knocked down his fourth 3-ball of the first half and tossed some salt in the first half wound with a jumper to beat the halftime horn.
It was a sign of things to come for Webster.
The only points for James Monroe over the final 2:41 of the second period came on a pair of Will Boggess free throws.
At the break, Webster County held a 12-0 advantage on points off turnovers and a 10-2 advantage in the paint.
“In the end, I thought the first half hurt us pretty bad. We are a very physical team and I thought they were a little more physical than us in the first half,” James Monroe head coach Matt Sauvage said. “The refs were letting us play and we didn’t match it. In the second half we did. If there had been overtime, I really liked our chances.”
Cooper Ridgeway scored on a drive to open the second half, but five straight points from Triplett pushed the lead to 12 points with 5:53 to play in the third period.
Electing to go with a smaller lineup out of a timeout at the 5:53 mark, James Monroe pulled within four points with 3:19 remaining in the quarter.
“There in the third quarter, we decided we needed to switch it up a little bit and play a little faster,” Sauvage said. “That can go for you or against you. It can go both ways and it did go both ways. It did get us back in the game and fight to the end to have a shot at it.”
A late free throw by Ryan Cole made it a 43-40 game in favor of the Highlanders after three quarters.
Dowdy opened the fourth quarter with a strong drive before Ryan Mann knocked down a pair of free throws to put James Monroe in front 44-43 at the 7:27 mark.
Clevenger answered with a 3-ball to put the Highlanders back in front and Ashton Moll doubled the lead on a layup after a James Monroe turnover.
Down the stretch, the scoring dried up on both sides.
Webster finally broke a drought that lasted 3:34 with two free throws from McCourt with 2:16 to play.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, the dry spell lasted for over six minutes, placing them in a bind down the stretch.
A triple from Cole pulled James Monroe within three points, but when Moll got behind the defense for a layup, the lead was back to five.
Forced to foul, the Mavs received an extra life after Dowdy was fouled rebounding the miss by Webster.
Dowdy made both free throws before Mann stole the in-bounds pass. Cole then rebounded a missed James Monroe 3-point attempt and raced to the corner for an off-balance 3-ball where he was fouled.
After going 3-for-11 in the fourth quarter from the line, James Monroe hit five straight, with Cole nailing three in a row to tie the game with 3.8 seconds to play.
“The last play we (drew up) didn’t work exactly the way we drew it because they dropped a guy back,” Gray said. “We were going to call a timeout and maybe run something else. We thought we would just let it play through and see what happened.”
Turned out the play ended up being an old football connection for the game-winner.
Quarterback McCourt launched a pass to his former wide receiver Triplett at the foul line who turned and nailed a jumper as time expired.
“Ray used his football skills to get it at its highest point. He got his feet set and it went in,” Gray said.
Sauvage talked about the defense for his team in the final seconds.
“We actually had it set up the way we wanted it. They actually did what we wanted them to do. That is the crazy part. We just had one guy get caught out of position there. He was able to make a nice catch and shoot. Triplett is a good player.”
Triplett’s miracle was the third buzzer beater of the night for the Highlanders, ending James Monroe’s run at the top of Class A.
