Battle to the buzzer
Anahuac Panther Cesar Hernandez painfully sinks the game-winning free-throw shot against the Kirbyville Wildcats on Friday in a huge district contest.
Anahuac’s Jaxson Leath defies gravity, bending around a defender on his way to the basket in the first of two major nail-biting wins last week. The Panthers beat Orangefield 52-50 as they scrap for the final playoff spot.
KIRBYVILLE –– After a loss against Kirbyville in mid-January, Anahuac evened the score with their second win of the week against the Wildcats in a nailbiter 47-46.
The Panthers and Bobcats went toe to toe, each constantly scoring almost consecutively the whole game. With twenty-seven seconds left in this battle, it was 46-45, Anahuac.
Kirbyville’s Mason Dickerson had a chance to bring his team ahead by one point after drawing a foul. Standing at the free throw line, he sank his first shot, making it 46 all, but missed his second attempt.
Quandre Coates of Anahuac took the rebound and went coast to coast, with a hop up to lay the ball in for two points that would win the game, but after missing his second free throw, Dickerson, 5’ 6”, shot off like a bottle rocket on a path of redemption as he lept up to swat the ball away from Coates, who is easily a foot taller.
Still in fast forward, Dickerson managed to hit the ground faster than anyone else and spotted the swatted ball about to drop into the hands of Anahuac’s Cesar Hernandez. With a flurry of arms and legs, three Kirbyville Bobcats were on Hernandez like a pack of starved piranhas.
The hungry pack of would-be winners wrenched the ball from Hernandez, bending his thumb back. At that exact second, the officials completed the walk from the opposite end of the court in time to see Hernandez doubled in pain, holding his injured hand while four Bobcats were holding both arms up with faces of complete surprise and innocence.
A referee finds his misplaced whistle and gives it a sharp blow to test it out, calling a foul on Kirbyville.
With a tied score of 46-46 and two seconds left in regular play, Hernandez makes his way to the free throw line, clutching his hurt hand. He raised the ball while baring his teeth, eye level, to line up a textbook shot while every jaw in the gym hung open in suspense.
Swish, nothing but net. Hernandez wins the game for the Panthers 47-46.
The high scorer for the Panthers, with 17 points, was Coates. Followed by Chris Hernandez’s nine and Trey Smith’s eight points.
As mentioned, Anahuac also had another nail-biting victory over Orangefield last week. The score from that game was 52-50.
Panthers played the last game of the regular season Tuesday, Feb. 11, against everyone’s favorite rivals, the Buccaneers of East Chambers. A win by the Panthers would clinch a spot in the postseason.