Win in final home game features unlikely finish
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continue posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
In a game that the Bryant Hornets — and certainly the seniors who were playing their final home game — will most likely never forget, there was disappointment, a rare and unique break, a second chance and a determined dash to victory.
In the end, Chris Chumley, one of those seniors, hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Hornets a 53-52 win over the Little Rock Catholic Rockets, setting off a post-game celebration akin to the one that occurred after the team knocked off their ranked rivals from Benton back in December, 2005.
How it got to that point was incredible.
With :55 left in the game, the Hornets had a 49-48 lead thanks to a clutch 3-pointer by junior Jeremy Nordman. At the other end, Catholic got four shots at regaining the lead as they pounded the boards (and the Hornets) for offensive rebounds until Eric Arthur hit a scoop shot with :23 left.
The Hornets worked a play to get Nordman, who had hit a pair of 3’s in quick succession, another open look. But he couldn’t get the shot to fall. Senior Micah Farish, however, grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with :05.4 showing on the clock and his team trailed 50-49.
Farish, who earlier this season had connected on over 20 consecutive shots from the line, could not get either of his free throws to fall.
Bryant fouled Jake Bequette with :03 to go. After a Hornets timeout, Bequette hit both of his shots to make it a 3-point game.
Bryant called another timeout after the second shot, setting up a final attempt to tie it. When play resumed, the Hornets dashed up the floor and Chad Knight missed a 3 as time ran out.
But the officials didn’t leave the floor. Instead, they conferred and wound up calling a technical foul on the Rockets. It seems, they had returned to the floor after the last Bryant timeout with six players.
The officials instructed that :02.8 be put back on the clock. Bryant would get two free throws and the ball. And coaches Mark Smith and Chad Withers send Farish back to the line. And, this time, the senior came through with both shots to make it 52-51.
After a Catholic timeout, the Hornets inbounded the ball on the side just inside the time line. Sophomore Brandon Cowart struggled initially to find an open teammate before lofting it over a Catholic defender to Chumley. After a quick look inside, Chumley put the ball on the floor, wove through the Catholic defense down the lane and hit the short jumper that won it.
“Coach Withers just said, ‘Micah, go back to the line,’” Smith said of that decision. “That was his call and it was a great idea. And how much poetic justice is it? I mean, he’s played great all year, to miss two in your last home game and then have an opportunity to step back and make two to give your team a chance to win. You couldn’t ask for more.”
“Those were two teams that weren’t going to go down easy,” Chumley stated. “When we were down three with three seconds left, I was saying, we’ve got to believe that we can win. When Micah missed those free throws, I told him we needed him because we had one more play. And it was a blessing to get to shoot those free throws again.
“It was like a storybook ending,” Chumley added. “And that last-second play was supposed to go back to Micah. I looked and he was open but I didn’t want to risk a pass so I just took it.
“There’s just nothing else you can say,” he concluded. “I’m just soaking up the experience. We haven’t been doing much all year but there was no better way to go out, senior year.”
“We were kind of due a break,” Smith added. “You went from totally different spectrums of emotion, from ‘We let one get away,’ to ‘We stole one.’ I’m just so glad for the seniors, in their last home game, two seniors being able to deliver like that, and Phillip (Porchay) playing great the whole game and Chase (Shaw) playing hurt, stepping up for us when we really needed to have it. I’m so proud of the guys.”
Porchay led the Hornets with 17 points in the game before fouling out when Bequette went to the line with :03 left. Knight, a sophomore, added 13 and Farish 10. Chumley finished with 7 and Nordman broke out of a recent slump with those two big 3’s in the fourth quarter.
It was a seesaw battle. Catholic, looking for revenge after a loss at home to the Hornets, broke out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter before settling for an 11-6 advantage at the end of the period.
Porchay drained a trio of 3-pointers in the second period as the Hornets surged into the lead. His third bomb with 3:16 left in the half, put Bryant ahead 18-17. After a Catholic turnover, Chumley connected from beyond the arc to make it a 4-point advantage.
But a basket by John Ukadike and a free throw by LaNorris Dukes had Catholic within 1 at the half. The game was tied at 26, 28, and 30 in the third quarter. Free throws by Arthur gave the Rockets a 32-30 advantage going into the final period.
But back-to-back layups by Farish off backdoor cuts and splendid passes from Chumley pushed Bryant back on top early in the fourth. Free throws by Bequette and a three-point play by Arthur, however, put the Rockets back ahead.
And so it went. The games last tie was at 43 with 3:09 left. Arthur scored off a spin move into lane to give Catholic the lead before Nordman buried his first triple to put Bryant on top. Matt Warden hit a driving layup then Arthur made a steal that led to a free throw by Stephen Sanders and a 48-46 Catholic lead with 1:10 to go.
That’s when Nordman hit his second three to set up the wild finish.
