Jones Buzzer Beater Lifts Louisville Past Northwest – Boys Basketball

Louisville 49, Northwest 46

Colton Jones hit a game winning buzzer beater three-pointer to lift the Louisville Leopards past the visiting #11 ranked Northwest Indians 49-46 Tuesday Night at Louisville High School. With the victory, Louisville improves to 8-4 on the season.

Jones led the Leopards with 3 three-pointers and a team-high 13 points. Scott Gronow also finished with 11 in hitting 3 three-pointers which included a buzzer beater from the left corner at the end of the first quarter. Spencer Hall and Jared Mathie also tacked on 8 each for Louisville.

The Indians (8-2) were led by Grant Baughman and Luke Fennell who both scored in every quarter. Baughman finished with 2 three-pointers and a game-high 18. Fennell also scored 13 points and and Trey Miletich made 2 triples to finish with 8. The second of Miletich’s downtown makes was a buzzer beater from the volleyball line just before halftime that cut the Northwest deficit to 29-27 at the break.

The Leopards scored the first 5 points out of the gate, but the Indians followed with a 9-0 run and held a 9-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. The pace quickened in the second quarter as Louisville outscored Northwest 21-18. Six different Leopards scored in the second and LHS hit 3 of their 7 three-pointers during the eight minutes prior to halftime. There were 39 points scored in the period and in comparison each team scored 28 points a piece in the other three quarters combined. 

The two former NBC rivals battled on into the second half. The lead exchanged hands four times to start the third quarter before the teams knotted up at 36-36 and then 38-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

More punches and counter punches ensued in the final period. Hall and Jones each scored on lay-ins to give Louisville a 43-42 lead midway through the fourth. Northwest answered when Fennell snagged a board off a deflection and put it back up and in with 2:44 left.

Neither team scored on their next possession and Ryan Pukys reeled in a rebound for the Leopards. He dished to Mathie who cut into the lane and pulled up for a go ahead bucket making 45-44 in favor of LHS with 1:44 left.

Northwest again answered on their ensuing possession. Kyle Luhring found the backdoor unlocked in firing a bullet to Fennell cutting across the lane. Fennell laid it in to give the Tribe a 46-45 advantage with 77 ticks left. Furthermore, the Indians produced a turnover on defense soon after. Nick Leeders deflected a pass and came down with a steal on the right wing and Northwest began to work the clock.

Louisville only had two team fouls at the time and needed to put the Indians in the bonus with under 40 seconds to go. Northwest was forced to inbound the ball three straight times from the baseline. The third inbound was a pass into the left corner that was hotly contested by Jones. The ball deflected off the Indians intended receiver and went out of bounds giving the Leopards new life with 33.7 seconds to go.

Louisville setup the offense and found an open shot from the left corner that missed off the front of the rim and rolled off the backboard. Hall hauled it in and drew a shooting foul. He split the pair from the line to tie the game at 46-46 with 18.6 seconds left. 

Out of a Leopards timeout, the Indians went deep finding a wide open recipient. Louisville prevented the wide open layup but drew an intentional foul in the process. The decibels in thee Leopards student section and rose throughout the gym significantly and both free throw attempts missed their mark leaving the score at 46-46 with 16.2 left.

Northwest struggled to inbound the ball on the baseline and a timeout was called from the bench. Out of the break, the Indians passed the ball in to the left of the hoop and both Hall and Mathie stormed in to block the potential go-ahead shot. There was a mad scramble off the deflection and Pukys recovered the fumble for Louisville who called timeout with 9.7 seconds left.

Gronow inbounded the ball in front of the Northwest bench to Mathie. Mathie dribble across the timeline and then left to right beyond the arch. Then he started to drive into the lane at the free throw line drawing the double team and that left Jones wide open on the left wing. Mathie delivered the assist and Jones hit nothing but nylon as time expired to give the Leopards the victory. The Louisville bench cleared in a pandemonious sprint to the other side of the court where teammate Jimmy Wright grabbed and pinned Jones to the East wall with the rest of the team following in celebration. The charging student section appeared soon after and a crowd of students filled the court to experience the sweet taste of victory over the #11 ranked team in the state.

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UP NEXT: The Leopards will next host the Youngstown Chaney Cowboys on Friday, January 11. JV will begin at 6:00 PM and Varsity will follow around 7:30 PM.

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