JACKSONVILLE — Wyatt Moore grabbed the loose ball and knew exactly what to do.
With just about 3.5 seconds left in a tie game, the Jacksonville sophomore picked up a rolling basketball just before Rochester senior Brooks Gavin had a chance to dive on it. Without hesitation, Moore elevated and released a 16-foot baseline jumper that hit nothing but net to cap a wild 69-67 Central State Eight Conference game at the JHS Bowl on Friday night.
The clock expired before Rochester coach Tony Gavin had a chance to use his final timeout, and Moore was mobbed by his teammates, his coaches and fans to celebrate the win.
“It lands in Wyatt's hands, and we were joking with Wyatt that the best thing that happened for Wyatt is that he didn't have any time to think about it,” Jacksonville coach Michael Cameron said.
Minutes after the game, it was still somewhat of a blur for Moore.
“You know, I don't really know what happened,” Moore said. “I was sitting in the corner, we ran ‘football’ — which is my favorite in-bounds play (all five players were on the baseline). We get down (the court); Latrell (Hemphill) takes it to the basket: I think he's making it, and then I see the ball come out.
“I saw there was like three seconds left on the clock. I knew I had to go get it and take a shot at the end.”
Moore, who finished with nine points, didn’t even have time to set his feet.
“Not at all,” he said. “I knew I had to get it and get it up as quick as possible because (Brooks Gavin) was right on the floor below me, so I thought he was going to get it.”
It was Jacksonville’s fifth-straight win and 10th out of its last 11 games.
Rochester’s Kai Bruce, a senior, made two free throws with 13 seconds left to tie the game after Jeremiah Jackson, another Jacksonville sophomore, put the Crimsons in front 67-65 with 27 seconds left.
Rochester led 65-58 when junior Nate Swaney made a pair of free throws with 5 minutes, 31 seconds left. He also had the last Rochester field goal, with 5:48 left. The Rockets went 5:18 without a point as Jacksonville chipped away at the gap.
Hemphill, a senior, led all scorers with 20 points. His 10 points in the first quarter helped Jacksonville take an 18-8 lead after one period. On the final possession, Hemphill drove the lane to attack the basket, trying to avoid Brooks Gavin while keeping Rochester’s Khordell Gregory from getting in front of him. His layup attempt was short, and Hemphill slid out of bounds. By the time he got to his feet trying to get back in the play, Moore had already released the game-winner.
“I saw Wyatt pick it up, and I knew he was going to shoot the ball,” Hemphill said. “He was heavily contested, so it was iffy, but I'm just glad that he made it.
“Honestly, I had confidence he was going to make it because that's his type of shot. He was going to make one of them, and I'm glad that's the one he makes.”
The game was marred by 41 turnovers (22 for Jacksonville, 19 for Rochester) and a technical foul per team. The Rockets committed 13 turnovers in the first half but got back into the game by shooting 8-for-13 in the second quarter.
The second half saw Rochester turn on its intense full-court pressure. Wherever a Jacksonville player went, he was hounded by a navy jersey. On top of that, the Crimsons battled foul trouble as Masen Johnson, Jackson and Troy DeFrates all entered the final quarter with four fouls apiece.
Cameron had no choice but to put the Crimsons’ chances on those three starters and just 1:10 into the fourth, DeFrates fouled out. Fortunately for the Crimsons, he was the only one who picked up his fifth foul.
“Credit to our guys for playing through a lot of adversity and just a lot of turnovers and a lot of missed layups,” Cameron said. “A lot of things didn't go our way tonight, but they just stayed with it and just showed a lot of mental toughness as well.”
Jacksonville senior Greyson Prevett nearly had a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds while Johnson, a senior, had 13 points. Prevett’s final basket, a layup with 2:05 left, got Jacksonville within a possession, 65-62.
Prevett said the postgame celebration was like nothing he’d ever seen.
“I've never seen that happen in person,” Prevett said. “I was like, ‘I've got to get in on this.’ We just won that game by a buzzer beater. It was huge, it was exciting. We needed that.”
Rochester lost its second straight heartbreaker. On Wednesday, the Rockets (14-11 overall, 6-4 CS8) dropped a 69-62 overtime decision at home to Morton.
Sophomore Khordell Gregory led the Rockets with 17 points while Bruce added 10 points.
With four games left in the regular season before the Crimsons’ postseason begins on Feb. 25 in Jerseyville, Jacksonville (18-8, 4-6 in the CS8) has a chance for its first 20-win season since the 2015-16 season under coach Sean Taylor.
“The beginning of the season was real rough,” Johnson said. “Our conference record looked bad because we were making changes and making adjustments.
“But we definitely picked it up, and now we have a chance to make history. I said it at the beginning of the year, (winning a regional title is) my No. 1 thing. It's on the cover of my phone (a photo of the 1999-2000 JHS team, the last boys basketball team to win a regional plaque). It's been 26 years; it's time. We need it. There's no debate about it.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, [email protected], Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA boys basketball — Moore's shot beats buzzer in Jacksonville win