Corsicana —
On a night of shots nailed at the buzzer, the one the Tigers swished just after the final horn didn’t count.
And the Tigers were left agonizing over a 55-52 loss to Forney on Friday night at Tiger Gym.
The Tigers (10-17, 4-10) had a chance to send the game into overtime. Forney’s Louie Fanning made his first free throw but missed the second, giving the Tigers a chance to tie the game. With the Tigers out of timeouts, Christian Hines grabbed the rebound and dribbled all the way down the left side of the court. Forney did a great job of getting back on defense, and double teamed Hines, forcing him to give up the ball.
Hines could only find Jack Saipongi at half court with a second left, and the Tigers guard was forced to heave up a turnaround shot from just inside the midcourt circle. Saipongi’s prayer miraculously went in, but he got the shot off about five-tenths of a second after the buzzer went off and it was waved off.
“We did an admirable job without having a timeout,” Tigers coach Don Newton said. “We did a good job of getting the ball to Christian. I told Tevin and Christian if they got a shot off the bounce to take it. Forney did a good job of taking it away from us.”
Forney (12-15, 4-9) hit two buzzer shots in the first half that ended up being the difference in the game. Jackrabbits reserve Lance Woodward hit a running shot from half court that got nothing but net for three points and a 17-12 lead after the first quarter.
The Jackrabbits then scored at the buzzer at the half, this time after a travelling call was missed with a few seconds left in the quarter. Clay Collins, who scored 12 points in the second quarter, nailed a baseline shot for a 32-18 halftime lead.
The Tigers fought their way back into the game. Hines made two 3-pointers and reserve Tedrick Wilson made one as Corsicana only trailed 40-35 after three quarters.
Corsicana pulled within 42-39 on a layup by Hines early in the fourth quarter, but Forney went on a 7-0 to go back up 49-39 with 4:00 left in the game. The Tigers then pulled off a rally, as Wilson and Hines made 3-pointers to make it 52-49 with under a minute to go.
After Forney’s Jake Charba made two free throws for a 54-49 lead, Tevin McDonald drilled a 3-pointer with :9.9 seconds left to pull Corsicana within 54-52. That set up the dramatic finish. Forney took away Hines, who had 19 points to lead all scorers.
The Tigers had a week in which they lost 53-51 at Red Oak on 24 points off eight 3-pointers by Saipongi. And then another two-point loss on Friday in which Saipongi scored eight points and couldn’t hit from 3-point range. The Tigers as a team were 7 for 29 from behind the arc.
The final statistics were heavily favored to the Tigers. Forney had 29 turnovers to 15 for Corsicana and Hines forced at least eight steals himself. The Tigers took 59 shots to Forney’s 38.
The final result was a tough loss for the Tigers, who have two games left on the schedule against West Mesquite on Friday and Mesquite Poteet on Feb. 14.
“We had our best effort since I’ve been here,” Newton said. “We had a chance to rally and get into a three-way tie and win the tiebreaker for a playoff spot. We came out tonight and laid an egg in the first half.”
Forney 55, Corsicana 52
Forney 17 15 8 15 – 55
Corsicana 12 6 17 17 – 52
Forney – Lance Woodward 3, Sage Baker 10, Louie Fanning 6, Wolfgang Park 6, Clay Collins 17, Jake Charba 5, Patrick Youngman 8.
Corsicana – Christian Hines 19, Tevin McDonald 10, Ernest McGee 5, Tedrick Wilson 8, Jack Saipongi 8.
Records – Forney 12-15, 4-9; Corsicana 10-17, 4-10.
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