By JAMES BROWN
WCLU Sports
Twice this season Glasgow had a shot to beat Monroe County, and twice the shot skipped off the rim at the buzzer. The second time ended the Scotties’ season with a 63-61 loss in the Boys Fourth Region Tournament on Wednesday night.
“Some go in and some don’t,” Glasgow coach Brandon Stockton said in his post game interview. He added that shot was not the difference in the game.
“It’s the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. The difference in the game, I thought, was the 50-50 balls,” Stockton said. “They beat us to the floor, got the loose balls, they beat us to it tonight. You look at the stats, it’s pretty even.”
Glasgow outscored Monroe 20-9 in fast break points, and 14-11 in points off turnovers. But the Falcons out rebounded the Scotties, 34-19, including 23-10 on the defensive boards.
Monroe shot 12 fewer shots in the game, but hit 57 percent of them. Glasgow was 26-of-56 from the field, including 4-of-16 from 3-point range.
Despite all of that, the Scotties still had a chance to win at the buzzer.
The Scotties trailed by seven, 57-50, with 3:57 left in the game. Landon Minton sparked a 9-2 run over the next two minutes when he put back an offensive rebound.
Jerrick Martin followed with an offensive rebound a minute later.
Branson Williams responded with a basket out of a Monroe County time out with 1:51 left in the game.
Thirteen seconds later, Jackson Norris buried a 3, then Jaylen Bradley stole the ball and fed Martin for a basket with 1:23 left in the game. That tied the score, 59-59.
The Falcons called another time out with 1:02 left. Out of that break, they were able to get a shot at the rim that was strongly contested, but on the back side, Reece Bartley put back the rebound to give his team the lead for good with about 50 seconds left.
The Scotties had a good look on their next possession, but missed a shot at the rim. The ball went out of bounds to Monroe with 20.5 seconds to play.
Glasgow fouled. Brison Nuckols hit two free throws. Bradley scored in the lane with 13 seconds to go, and Monroe was ahead, 63-61.
The Falcons turned the ball over to the Scotties with 9.7 seconds to go. Monroe fouled with a foul to give with six seconds left.
Bradley drove the lane, kicked to the corner, and the shot bounced off the short side of the rim.
The loss ended Glasgow’s season with an 18-13 record. It also ended the high school careers of five seniors — Jeremiah Moore, Jerrick Martin, Landon Minton, Carter Hodges, and Grayson Bartley.
GLASGOW SCORING
Bradley, 24; Martin, 16; Moore, 6; Minton, 6; Bartley, 4; Norris, 3; Hodges, 2.
MONROE SCORING
Nuckols, 21; Williams, 15; Bartley, 12; Caden Gearlds, 9; Brody Rich, 4; Eli Gearlds, 2.
