Watson tips in

final shot

to beat Reynolds
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

ASHEVILLE — Watauga’s Will Watson had already scored eight points before the final eight seconds of the Pioneers’ showdown at A.C. Reynolds. His 10th point proved to be one to remember.

Watson, as the clock was running out, stuck back a Jeff Newell miss to lift the Pioneers over A.C. Reynolds 85-83 Friday night. It was Watauga’s first win at A.C. Reynolds, which joined the Northwestern 4-A Conference in 2001.

Newell was trying to stick back a Chad Eppley miss, who started the play with 9.4 seconds left in the game. Watson was able to get free and tip the ball in the basket just before the buzzer sounded.

“I knew that I had to have a quick shot,” Watson said. “I was afraid (the buzzer) was going to go off.”

Watauga trailed 50-33 in the third quarter and 60-48 in the fourth, but scored 37 points in the final eight minutes of the game to capture the victory from the Rockets, who were stunned after being outscored 37-24 in the fourth quarter. Reynolds seemed to be in control, even at the end, even after Newell calmly hit two foul shots with 30.5 seconds left in the game.

But Watson stole the ball and the Pioneers called timeout with 9.4 seconds left. The play they designed in the huddle was supposed to have a guard drive to the basket and look for a teammate on the backside of the defense — if the Rockets stayed in their 1-3-1 zone.

Pioneers coach Rob Sanders thought that the Rockets might switch to a man-to-man defense, but Reynolds stayed in its 1-3-1, allowing for Chad Eppley to drive to the basket.

However, when Eppley got the ball and drove to the basket, he missed his attempt. Newell rebounded, but his shot also did not fall.

That left Watson, who was not boxed out by any Rockets. His catch-and-shoot just beat the buzzer and sent the Pioneers into a celebration on the court.

“It was crazy,” Watson said. “It was on a tip. I thought Jeff Newell had it and it was going in and all of a sudden it was coming off the rim. I was wide open and I put it up and it bounced in, finally.”

Watson was very aware that time was running out. Even if he had missed, the game would have gone into overtime. However, the ball clearly left his hand just before the buzzer went off.

“It was 83-83 inside of 10 seconds, and usually the whistles go into the pocket,” Sanders said. “So, everybody’s got to crash, everybody’s got to go to the boards. We had a couple of tips there and Will was able to get one to go down.”
The game-winner would not have been possible had the Pioneers’ bench not gotten them back into the game and if Greene didn’t suddenly warm-up like a microwave.
Watauga, led by backups Ethan Moyer and by Ian Dale, started to chip away at the Reynolds lead. Watauga scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, capped by a Moyer 3-point basket, and pulled to within 60-55.
It was 67-61 when Greene started scorching the Rockets with three straight baskets. Watson added two foul shots, and Greene followed with a drive to the basket and a layup off an Eppley steal. When Greene buried a 3-pointer, they had pulled to within 79-76 with 1:52 left.

“Finally, my shot started falling,” Greene said. “I give all the credit to the second-string team that came in and got all of the emotion back into the game. They really picked us up when we were down.”

Newell hit a basket and Greene added another 3-pointer to tie the game at 81-81 with 1:03 left.

As quickly as Watauga’s offense got hot, A.C. Reynolds almost matched the Pioneers shot-for-shot. The Rockets scored on nine straight possessions to keep pace with a Watauga team that hit 13-of-18 shots from the field in the fourth. The Pioneers also hit 8-of-8 from the foul line in the period.

It didn’t look like Watauga would come close to any chance of victory when Reynolds, leading 33-27 at halftime, went on a 17-5 run to claim a 50-33 lead. Murphy Fancher hit two 3-point baskets and Moyer scored five toward the end of the third quarter, but the Pioneers still trailed 60-48.

However, Sanders felt that the bench players inspired the starters to play better in the fourth quarter by playing hard and by being competitive in the third.

“When we called a timeout, I told (the starters) that ‘You have no energy, no fight about yourself, you’re just watching the game. If you want to watch the game, we’ve got a seat right here,’” Sanders said. “I told the five that was going in to ‘Do what you guys do. Bring your energy. Bring your fight. Bring your fire and go out and make something happen.’ And they did.”

“They energized us,” Watson said. “We were jumping off the bench like crazy. We were energized, and we just fed off their energy.”

Greene led the Pioneers with 23 points. Dale added 13 and Watson finished with 10 Moyer chipped in nine, and every Pioneer scored at least two points.

A.C. Reynolds got 10 points from Kyle Payne and 18 from Edge Warren, who hit 8-of-10 foul shots. D.J. Clement added 17, and Ryan Jones scored 10.

Watauga boys 85, A.C. Reynolds 83
Watauga
Fancher 2 0-0 6, Steury 2 0-0 4, Watson 4 2-2 10, Greene 9 2-3 23, Moyer 4 0-0 9, Isaacs 1 0-0 2, Chiarolanzio 0 2-2 2, Newell 2 2-2 6, Eppley 2 0-1 4, Herndon 1 4-6 6, Dale 5 3-3 13. Totals 32 15-19 85.
A.C. Reynolds
Jones 4 0-0 10, Owenby 1 0-0 2, Clement 6 4-6 17, Thomas 2 3-4 7, Montini 1 0-0 2, Durant 2 1-1 5, Payne 8 3-3 20, Ray 1 0-2 2, Warren 5 8-10 18. Totals 30 19-26 83.
Watauga 18 9 21 37 — 85
A.C. Reynolds 16 17 27 23 — 83
3-point goals—Watauga 6 (GReene 3, Fancher 2, Moyer), A.C. Reynolds 4 (Jones 2, Clement, Payne). Turnovers—Watauga 16, A.C. Reynolds 16. Total fouls—Watauga 19, A.C. Reynolds 19. Fouled out—Watauga, Herndon. Technical fouls—None.