BEAVERCREEK — A late-game Beavercreek rally set up some late-game heroics by the Beavers’ Isaiah Moore, Dec. 11, in a boys high school basketball game against visiting Fairborn.
Moore took a pass from teammate Brayden Walther in the left corner, and calmly drained a game-winning 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left in Tuesday night’s game for a 60-57 Beavercreek win.
“I was just confident in the shot, that’s all,” Moore said before getting mobbed by fans and teammates as he jogged into the locker room.
“We drew up the play during that last timeout. And honestly, Brayden Walther made a good read on the play,” said Beavercreek coach Mark Hess. “He was supposed to use the ball screen, but ended up seeing that Fairborn had overplayed it. So we ended up popping the ball into the corner. Brayden had a good read, and made a great pass. And ‘Zay stepped up and made a great shot.
“It’s amazing to see what can happen when you play hard and don’t feel sorry for yourself. Sometimes things just start to go your way a little bit.”
A good dose of defense put Beavercreek (1-3, 0-2 Greater Western Ohio Conference, National East) in position to win the game.
Trailing Fairborn (1-2, 1-1 GWOC American South) by eight points with just over five minutes yet to play, Beavercreek put together a defensive effort to keep themselves in the game. Steals by Chris Herbort, Mali Harris-Strayhorn and Moore keyed a 12-3 run to give the Beavers a 56-55 lead with 1:23 left to play.
A Herbort free throw extended the lead to 57-55, but the Skyhawks’ Shaunn Monroe hit a pair of shots from the foul line to even things up with 25.7 seconds yet to play.
Beavercreek called its final timeout with 7.8 seconds left in the contest, setting up Moore’s game-winning heroics.
Fairborn managed to get a timeout called with 1.9 seconds left, and Monroe tried to add to his game-high 32-point scoring total, but his half-court shot fell short of the basket as time expired.
“They didn’t panic. They showed some composure and they trusted each other, and trusted each other on the defensive end. And that’s what going to win you games,” Hess said.
Herbort led Beavercreek with 18 points, while Moore finished with 13.
The Skyhawks’ Monroe scored 20 of his game-high 32 points in the second half, and hit eight of nine free throw attempts in the half.
Fairborn coach Billy Harchick remained upbeat despite the tough loss.
“There was a lot of good things that we can take away from this game,” Harchick said. “Coming in here, on the road, we basically led most of the game. There’s a lot of positives that we can take away from this. Shaunn had a heckuva game, with those 32 points, Tylen (Eatmon) came out of his slump a little bit with 10 points. We’re getting there.”
Both teams return to boys high school basketball action at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14. Beavercreek will host Lebanon on that night, while Fairborn heads south to take on West Carrollton.
