Myers does it again as last shot wins it for C-H
Chartiers-Houston coach Eugene Briggs,left, cheers during the final second the Bucs’60-59 win against Fort Cherry Friday night at Fort Cherry High School.
Chartiers-Houston’s Cam Hanley tries to shoot past Fort Cherry’s defenders during the first half Friday night.
Chartiers-Houston’s Zach Ford and Fort Cherry’s Devon Brown fight for the rebound during the second half.
Nicole Stewart (standing, front row, second from left) and the student section cheer for the Rangers during Friday night’s game against Chartiers-Houston. The school raised funds for Stewart, who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, through a bake sale, Chinese auction and donations. The school had a “purple out,” which is the color used to represent lymphoma.
McDONALD – Everybody stuffed inside the Fort Cherry High School gymnasium was in unison.
Whether cheering for the hometown Rangers or visiting section champion Chartiers-Houston, it was done in the color purple to support Fort Cherry student Nicole Stewart after she was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The standing-room-only crowd also was in unanimity after the Bucs pulled down a rebound with 21.5 seconds and called a timeout.
There was no question what Chartiers-Houston head coach Eugene Briggs was drawing up in the Bucs’ huddle.
There was no question as to which player was getting the basketball; nor should there have been.
As A.J. Myers collected a tipped ball on the right sideline, he drew back for a fadeaway three-pointer and repeated exactly what he did against Fort Cherry less than a month ago. After chucking up and making what looked to be an improbable game-winning shot with 10.6 seconds left to secure a 60-59 win over Section 2-AA rival Fort Cherry, Myers put two fingers on the inside of his shooting arm – either checking for a pulse or seeing if ice was in his veins – for his encore performance that completed Chartiers-Houston’s undefeated section run.
“You are going to win the game,” Briggs said confidently to his team during the timeout.
“We have to get the ball to A.J. and let him do his thing.”
Myers “did his thing” in the second half after going into halftime with only six points, half as many fouls and a two-point deficit to Fort Cherry, 29-27. In the final 16 minutes, Myers scored 14 points including the game-winner.
“I know I had to be careful, but you can’t play timid,” Myers said. “I just had to play how I play. I know I wanted the ball in my hands just like the last time. I knew I was going to hit it.”
Myers wasn’t the only player going into the break with the mindset of being careful for the duration of the game as teammate Cam Hanley and Fort Cherry’s Ryhan Culberson joined him with three fouls after his 11-point first half.
Senior Devon Brown and Culberson built up the Fort Cherry lead as high as six points after a Nate Higham three-pointer had the Rangers ahead 19-13 with 7:41 left in the second quarter.
Chartiers-Houston (12-0, 17-4) continued keeping it close after a Seth Dunn corner three-pointer cut its halftime deficit to only two.
“Our game plan was just to get to the last four minutes of the game,” Briggs said about the foul trouble. “We just wanted to keep playing defense and see if we could get to that point.”
Trailing 54-50 with 5:16 left after two consecutive baskets from Brown, the Bucs evened the score after a Myers jumper and Andrew Clark’s field goal with 3:57 remaining.
“Things didn’t go our way in the end of the game like we wanted them to,” said Fort Cherry head coach Dwayne Canton. “It hurt us having our two big guys (Brown and Culberson) in foul trouble because you can’t force anything. We were planning on going inside to them. Both teams were in foul trouble throughout the second half but I think it hurt us a little more than it hurt them.”
After the Myers three-pointer, Fort Cherry (9-3, 15-6) attempted a full-court heave to a wide-open Ranger, however, the ball hit a net that hung only a few feet from the roof, giving the ball back to Chartiers-Houston.
“We had our matchup set after the timeout,” Canton frustratingly said. “Unfortunately, the ball went into his (Myers) hands.”
Myers, who made a game-winning shot against Fort Cherry in the first meeting between the teams, led the Bucs with 20 points while Hanley finished with 14. Clark had 15 points, nine coming from behind the three-point line.
Fort Cherry’s performance was dominated by the post players as Brown matched Myers’ 20-point performance and pulled down nine rebounds. Culberson scored 16 points while collecting 11 rebounds.
“Getting the section championship is awesome because we haven’t done that in forever,” Myers said about the first boys basketball section championship since 1995.
“Being able to get it and be undefeated is something special. We wanted to complete that tonight. We just need to keep doing what we are doing.”