Nate Bogle let loose of the ball from the corner Wednesday night as the final second ticked off.
In and out, and a wave of Gilbert Highland students rolled across the court to celebrate the Hawks’ 49-47 victory over Mesa Mountain View before an overflow crowd at Highland.
“I was under the hoop, and I thought it was in,” said Highland bruising guard Noah Peterson. “My heart stopped, and I was, like, ‘Ahh!,’ “
Peterson can breathe easy as the No. 1 Hawks advanced to Saturday’s 6A boys basketball state championship game against No. 2 Phoenix Brophy Prep, which beat Anthem Boulder Creek on a buzzer beater Wednesday night. the game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m., at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
“It looked good,” Peterson said of Bogle’s shot. “And he’s a shooter, too. He’s a good shooter.”
It was exactly what Mountain View coach Andy Johnson wanted at the end. Well, maybe a foul called. The refs let hard contact go in the end, but it was remarkable efforts from both teams down the stretch.
After Mountain View’s Brigg Wolfe made the first of two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to cut the score to 49-47, Johnson called time out.
The Toros came out with Wolfe purposely missing the second free throw. Wolfe couldn’t have executed a missed free throw better, bouncing the ball right back at him as he cut into the lane. Wolfe had the ball stripped and it went out of bounds to the Toros with 1.9 seconds left.
This time, the Toros got the ball to Bogle, one of their best shooters, for a the high-arcing shot.
“That was a heart breaker,” Johnson said.
An overflow crowd was in for a treat as the teams battled like the Open Division semifinalists did on Friday night at Highland, where Perry beat Desert Mountain.
The intense play led to a back-and-forth, then ultimately a chess match between Highland coach Todd Fazio and Johnson.
Johnson made this a grider of a game by working the ball to the final 10 seconds of the 35-second shot clock on nearly every possession.
The Toros (19-12) led by five in the final minute of the third quarter.
They also made it tough for Highland to have any open 3s.
Finally, with six minutes left, Ryan Moon hit a long 3 to tie the score at 37. Two minutes later, sophomore Michael Johnson nailed a 3 to give Highland a 40-39 lead. Johnson hit another 3 1:10 to play for a 45-44 lead.
Mountain View got Highland’s best player, Peterson, to the line with 25 seconds left. Peterson, who struggled from the line, missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Toros rebounded, down by one.
But the Toros turned the ball over under their basket with 12 seconds left, and Johnson made two free throws.
“We just had to get the ball and shoot free throws,” Johnson said.
Fazio said it was not a smooth game, but credited Mountain View for that.
“They made it a grider,” Fazio said. “We told our guys before the game that we’ve got to win in multiple ways. We’re going to have to have half-court griders and today was a half-court grinder. I was proud of our guys.”
Brophy (24-8) advanced to Saturday’s final with a 66-63 win over Anthem Boulder Creek on Arman Madi’s buzzer-beating 3 from about 35 feet out. Brophy rebounded a missed Boulder Creek drive and got the ball to Madi, who let loose for the game winner.
Like at Highland, students stormed the court.
“We told our guys in the last timeout that a deflection or rebound could put us in position to get a shot to win it in regulation,” Brophy coach Matt Hooten said. “Ayden Madi did a fantastic job walling up defensively on their last shot.
“Connor Ivy had a huge rebound, and he kicked the ball up the floor quickly to Arman. He pushed it to the AMDG logo on the floor and hit an amazing shot.”
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