Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994 TAG: 9403050169
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EMORY LENGTH: Medium
Ben Hilton said he was not the Pioneers' first option, yet the junior forward nailed an 18-foot jump shot at the buzzer to give Lebanon a 57-55 victory over the Buffaloes in the first round of the Region C boys' basketball tournament Friday night at Emory and Henry College. In the second game, Chilhowie defeated Glenvar 59-57 in overtime.
Even though Hilton led the Pioneers with 19 points, he was the third option on the inbounds play coach Sam Blevins drew with 2 seconds to play.
The Buffaloes, however, effectively covered Lebanon big men Brian Sword and Wade Hilton, Ben's twin brother. Ben Hilton managed to get open on the screen set for Sword.
He caught a pass from Ryan Cowden just beyond the free-throw line and scarcely had time to set his feet before launching the wide open buzzer-beater that sent Lebanon (17-8) into a semifinal here tonight against Grayson County. Chilhowie will face Parry McCluer in the other semifinal.
Probably the least-surprised person in King Gymnasium was the guy who launched the shot.
"I kind of figured [the Buffaloes] would cover [Sword and Wade Hilton] and that I would get the ball," Ben Hilton said. "Coach Blevins drew it up on the board like that. It was a good play."
Still, it wasn't Hilton's most desirable shot.
"That's probably the first jumper I've shot from that deep," he said.
It was a tough ending for Floyd County (19-4), which won't be making a second consecutive trip to the Group A state tournament, despite making the correct defensive calls in the final 10 seconds.
Lebanon had the ball with 11 seconds to play following a Buffaloes miss. Floyd County center Jason Light fouled Ben Hilton - only the Buffaloes' sixth team foul - to force Lebanon to inbound the ball with two seconds left.
The Pioneers called time out and set up the winning play.
"We knew we had a foul to give," said Alan Cantrell, Floyd's coach. "We went about as long as you can go before you [commit] it. They just ran a good play [on the inbounds pass] . . . drew it up well."
The Buffaloes had a 53-48 lead with 5 minutes, 14 seconds left after Brian Harman's transition layup. The Hiltons scored four consecutive points - Wade on a transition layup, Ben on a baseline jumper - to get the Pioneers to 53-52 with 3:29 to go.
A Jamie Warren shot was stuffed by Lebanon's Nathan McGlothlin, but Warren recovered to steal the ball and hit a layup for two of his game-high 22 points, making it 55-52. Wade Hilton, who finished with 13 points, sank a 3-pointer to tie it with 1:31 left.
The Buffaloes spread their offense and ran time off the clock. Harman, seeing an opening, drove the lane but missed a short jumper and Floyd lost the rebound out of bounds with 11 seconds left.
"We really hadn't set up anything special [offensively]," Cantrell said. "We were just going to let the time run off and run our regular offense and hope to get a shot at the end.
"Brian saw a hole open up there a little bit for him and made good penetration. It was a good move. If [the shot] had fallen, we'd have been all right."
Floyd had tried to force the action all night, but the Buffaloes shot poorly and Lebanon didn't wilt in the up-tempo style.
"That surprised me, too," Blevins said. "I asked my [assistant] coaches early on, `Is this too fast?' Neither team was doing a lot of scoring, even though the game was going a hundred miles an hour."
The Buffaloes made only seven of 31 field-goal attempts in the first half, yet trailed only 29-26 at intermission thanks to a Lebanon cold snap.
The Pioneers didn't score for 4 1/2 minutes in the second quarter after back-to-back 3-pointers from 6-foot-7 Sword, who had three 3-pointers and 11 points, and Thad Lambert ended an 8-0 run that put Lebanon up 27-20.
The Pioneers' zone kept Light, the Buffaloes' top scorer, from seeing the ball most of the night. He scored 14 points, but all five of his field goals came on stick-backs, not out of the offense. Much of the offense was created by Warren and fellow guard Phillip Marshall, who had 10 points.
"It was so tight in there against the zone, it was tough to get the ball," Light said. "It was especially tough with the Sword guy in there, who can actually block me. It was a tough game, that's all you can say." \
see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.