BUZZER BEATER: Smith sinks put back at buzzer to give Cardinals first loss

Dec. 19—It took three attempts but Donovan Smith sank a putback to give the Tahlequah Tigers a 61-59 win over the Collinsville Cardinals on Tuesday, Dec. 19.

After the Cardinals tied it up with seven seconds left, it looked like they would have just one shot at avoiding overtime. After a timeout, Brycen Smith pushed down the court and missed his lay-up attempt. Cole Robertson then went to recover it, but he too was heavy-handed and missed his attempt.

With around one second left Donovan Smith tapped the ball towards the basket just before the buzzer was sounding. As Smith's tap-in fell, everyone's held breath collectively roared to life as the Tigers dogpiled at mid-court.

"Those are always incredible," THS Head Coach Duane Jones said. "I was really proud of our kids, sometimes kids will stand around and none of our kids did that. They went the length of the court in seven seconds it was a great play."

Not only did the win extend the Tigers' perfect start to district play [3-0, 4-2 overall], but it also ended Collinsville's 6-0 undefeated start.

"We knew it was going to be a battle, they are one of the best teams in the district," Jones said. "We didn't play well in the first quarter but once we settled down I thought they battled and played really solid basketball. I thought the last three quarters won us the game."

The Cardinals came out in the first quarter well, taking as big as a 10-point lead. Despite this, the Tigers battled and tied it up 25-25 with 3:39 left in the first half. THS limited the Cardinals to just eight second-quarter points after they scored 21 in the first.

A big part of the Tigers' strong defensive effort went into locking down CHS' big man Zach Brown. After putting up nine points in the first quarter, the Cardinals big man was limited to just two points in each of the next two quarters.

"We wanted to take away the Brown kid because they shoot the ball really well also. I thought we did a good job of sticking to the gameplan and bringing pressure," Jones said.

After halftime, the Tigers proved the better play wasn't a flash in the pan as they managed to take a lead early in the third quarter. Even though it wasn't much the Tigers went into the fourth quarter up by one.

The Cardinals continued to chase THS until they tied it up with time expiring.

"We didn't play great in the first quarter but we were only two points down," Jones said in his message at halftime. "We came out in the first three and four minutes [in the second half] and established the lead even if it was one or three points. I was proud of them they didn't get down."

Cash McAlvain led the way with 20 points. Donovan Smith added 19 points.

The Tigers will be back in action at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21 at home against Claremore.

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