Henry County Patriots Buzzer Beater Gives Kenwood Knights Third Straight District Loss

Clarksville, TN – In basketball, the phrase buzzer beater conjures images of long jump shots from behind the three-point arc or half court as the last seconds of the clock wind down. Friday night at Kenwood High School, the Knights suffered their third straight district loss to the Henry County Patriots, 42-44, due to a buzzer beater. However, this game winning shot was not a long 3-pointer.

The game was tied at 42 with four seconds left on the clock when Angel Hall missed two free throws that would have given the Knights a lead.

Pope caught the pass, avoided a Knight’s defender and took the shot from less than two feet from the rim. The shot missed and the ball rolled off the rim. Conner Boley snagged the ball coming off the rim and put it back up in the net as the final buzzer sounded.

Everyone froze for a split second until one of the referees signaled the basket was good. The Knights were stunned and the Patriots erupted in celebration.

The Patriots overcame a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win the game. The comeback was the result of three-point shots which the Patriots had been shooting all night. From the tip off, the Patriots used screens and rapid ball movement to set up three-point shooters.

After shooting 1-of-8 from downtown in the first half, the Patriots shot 4-of-5 in the second half, including 3-of-4 in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were down 28-40 when they made three, 3-pointers in a row at the beginning of the 12-2 run that would tie the game.

Josef Neumiar made two-of the three straight with 2:21 remaining in the game. Nate Kendall made a free throw to complete a three-point play with 23 seconds left in the game. Then, Russell Malik drove the length of the court and made a layup to tie the game. A foul called right after Malik’s layup put Hall on the line with four seconds remaining.

The Knights took the lead in the first quarter and had held it until that point. They were outscored by the Patriots 18-8 in the last quarter. The Knights shot 6-of-15 from the free throw line, including 1-of-3 in the final period.

Boley finished the game with a double-double, 13 points and 12 rebounds. Neumiar led all scorers with 15 points. The Patriots shot 45 percent from the field (18-of-40) and were 5-of-13 from downtown. They out-rebounded the Knights 27 t0 17.

Shavrick Martin led eight Knight scorers with 11 points. Tyree Boykin scored 10 and Angel Hall added seven points. They shot 54 percent from the field (15-of-28) including 6-of-15 from three-point range.

This was the Knights (12-7) third-straight loss, dropping them to 5-3 in District 10-AAA. The win broke a Patriots (7-9) two-game losing streak and made them 4-4 in district play.

Box Score

Henry County 44, Kenwood 42

Kenwood
Matthew Norl 4, Keith Dowlen 2, Angel Hall 7, Tyree Boykin 10, Deandre Radcliffe 1, Shavrick Martin 11, Andre Clifton 2, Treshawn Foster 5.

Henry County
Josef Neumiar 15, Conner Boley 13, Jamison Hayes 8, Nate Kendall 3, Malik Russel 2, Alex Pope 2, Jared Adkisson 1.