Wayne High was 60 seconds away from punching its ticket to the state boys basketball tournament, but O’Neill had other plans.
The Eagles scored a whopping 33 points in the fourth quarter and erased a 10-point deficit in the final minute, getting a floating jumper by Justin Appleby with 4.8 seconds to go to shock the Blue Devils in a 50-49 decision Monday in the C1-4 district finals at Northeast Community College.
The Blue Devils held O’Neill to a single free throw in the third period and held a 27-17 advantage going to the fourth quarter, but O’Neill hung around and took advantage of a 10-for-23 effort at the free throw line by the Blue Devils to stay within range until the end.
The momentum seemed to have shifted in Wayne’s favor when Grayson McBride threw down a dunk with 1:00 left to give Wayne a 48-38 advantage, but the Eagles came back and pulled to within one on two free throws by Wyatt Liewer with :19 left to make it a 49-48 game.
After two missed free throws by Wayne, the Eagles called time out to set up the go-ahead basket. Appleby’s short jumper in the lane gave O’Neill its only lead of the game, and a 15-footer by Will Anderson at the buzzer missed the mark, giving the Eagles the improbable comeback win.
Wayne, which ended the season 19-8, was led by McBride with 17 points and Mason Lee with 11. Anderson scored seven points, Jack Evetovich had six and Ryan Jaixen and Beau Bowers each had four.
A complete wrap of Monday’s game will be in this week’s edition of The Wayne Herald.
