The Gilmer Bobcats went out in style to end the regular season.
GHS hosted West Hall for senior night last Tuesday. The closely-played game came down to the final second, and Bobcat Ryder Wofford was there to send the Spartans reeling.
Wofford’s buzzer beater improved the Bobcats’ region record to 7-5, and players and students rushed the court to celebrate the Bobcats’ 67-65 victory.
“It was good to get another win going into the region tournament,” said head coach Jordan Hice. “I thought we played well but just didn’t shoot very well, which made it a close game. West Hall has kept it close both times we played them and so has everyone else in the region.”
Before the game winner, GHS entered the fourth quarter behind, 50-48. The Spartans made a trio of three pointers to begin the fourth while Jackson McVey scored six points and J.D. Taylor added two more.
Following a Wofford three pointer, two from McVey trimmed the Spartans’ lead to 65-63 with 30 seconds on the clock. GHS was forced to foul, and WHHS was in the bonus 10 seconds later.
After the missed free throw, McVey snatched the rebound, and the Cats were off and running. Kohan Davis found a slashing Will Kiker, whose layup tied the game.
The Spartans stormed down the court, but their long three-point attempt missed everything and landed out of bounds.
Gilmer was tasked with going the length of the court with 1.9 seconds on the clock. Wofford received the long inbound pass and was promptly fouled. GHS then inbounded under its basket with nine-tenths of a second remaining.
WHHS fouled McVey before GHS was able to inbound. On the ensuing inbound, Wofford’s catch-and-release shot found the bottom of the net for the two-point win.
Hice discussed the final play, noting, “They got that quick foul right off the bat when they stuck two people on Jackson and then fouled before we even inbounded the ball.
“We didn’t have any time to adjust because we didn’t have any timeouts, so we rotated around to try and give a different look. Initially, it was going to Ryder, and we were going to use Jackson as a decoy because we knew he was going to draw two defenders no matter what. We were hoping we could get away with Ryder slipping through a screen for an open shot.”
Ahead of the fourth quarter celebration, GHS opened a 17-13 lead after a quarter. WHHS found success inside and out in the second to pull ahead 33-32 at the half. The Spartans outpaced the Bobcats by a point in the third to take a two-point lead into the final quarter.
McVey led all scorers with 23 points and added 14 rebounds. Wofford finished with 14 points, and Kiker added 12 points and six rebounds. Taylor had nine points, Christian Sumner scored eight and Keegen Bryant totaled four.
The win improved Gilmer’s record to 17-8. They began the region tournament at press deadline versus West Hall.