2:12

The Bruins run 1 minutes, 45 seconds off the clock before getting this game-winning tip by Jared Watson that ignited a wild post-game celebration.

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By Angela Watts
Assistant GM, Washington D.C. Metro Area

** Click the links above to access a full photo gallery and video highlights from Thursday's game!

It was an excruciatingly long 1 minute and 45 seconds of play Thursday night at Lake Braddock.

As the anticipation built, the Bruins and senior guard Dominic Morra -- with the score tied against visiting Hayfield -- patiently worked the clock in an effort to take the last shot of the game.

What no one knew was that there would not be just one last shot.

This time, there would be two.

"Coach [Brian Metress] has always said to go with about six seconds left so that if we miss it we'll have a chance for a tip-in," Morra said. "And I had said to myself that if I was going to have the ball for the last two minutes I might as well -- make it or miss it -- give it my best and take the shot. But I knew as soon as it left my hands that it was off."

Morra doesn't miss often -- his game-high 17 points Thursday night gave his 1,401 for his career at Lake Braddock, second only to Hubert Davis' 1,604 -- but this shot from just inside the 3-point line sailed left.
 
But the ball bounced hard off backboard and, as if it were planned, directly into the outstretched arms of senior Jared Watson. Watson had only enough time to simply push it back toward the rim.

"He did a great job of keeping it high and not bringing the ball down," Morra said. "But the first thing on my mind was wondering if he had enough time to get it off.

"Then I just prayed it would go in."

It did, falling through the net just as the buzzer sounded to seal the dramatic, 41-39 victory and ignite a feverish on-court celebration with the Bruin players, coaches and fans.

Morra was the first to grab Watson -- who went streaking toward the Bruin student-section -- but Metress was close behind, running and exalting with his players.

Watson screamed and pulsated with excitement as the crowd gathered around him.

"Oh, he's jacked!" Metress said of the usually subdued Watson. "He's going crazy in the locker room and you can hear the student body going crazy out in the halls. He's never had a game-winner before, but tonight he was in the right spot at the right time.

"And sometimes, that's the most important thing."

Lake Braddock had built a 25-15 lead midway through the third quarter before a fast-break dunk on a sweet pass from Hayfield junior Chad Canady to senior standout T.J. Wilson sparked the Hawks.

Hayfield rallied from that double-digit deficit with help from a monstrous block by Wilson, back-to-back 3-pointers by Canady and a fast-break layup by sophomore guard Davonte Williams that knotted score at 34 headed into the fourth quarter.

The two teams found themselves locked again at 37 and 39 in a very low-scoring fourth quarter. Neither team scored in the games' final 3 minutes, 13 seconds -- until the tip -- as they traded time outs and turnovers instead of baskets.

"I told our guys to take the last shot of the game," Metress said. "The problem was I think we turned it over two times because their pressure defense was so intense that we just kind of wilted and folded up. But I told our guys during each of the time outs, if they don't score, we're going to have the last shot of the game. That was our whole thing -- we wanted to take the last shot.

"And both times we turned it over we got back in it because we stopped them. If we don't stop them we don't get back in the game. So I credit our defense. But I also credit the fact that our guys knew what to do down the stretch."

The instructions were simple: Unless there was an opportunity for a wide-open layup then the ball would stay in Morra's hands and he would take the game's final shot.

"Oh, yeah, no one else was going to take that shot," Metress said of Morra, who was the only player on either team to reach double-figures scoring. "But it's a high school basketball game and I've been coaching a while now, and it seems like that last shot of the game is never the one that goes in. It's always the one of the rebound, and we were lucky enough to have that happen tonight."


Email: awatts@digitalsports.com


Hayfield              7  8  19  5 -- 39
Lake Braddock    9  9  16  7 -- 41

Hayfield -- Gibson 3 2-2 9; Canady 2 2-4 8; Newsome 1 5-6 7; Wilson 3 1-2 7; Williams 2 0-0 4; Rigans 1 0-0 2; Winbush 1 0-0 2. Team totals: 13 10-14 39. Lake Braddock -- Morra 7 1-2 17; Watson 4 0-0 8; McLucas 3 0-0 7; Sinthorntham 3 0-0 7; Flowers 1 0-0 2. Team totals: 18 1-2 41. Three-pointers -- Hayfield 3 (Canady 2, Gibson); Lake Braddock 4 (Morra 2, McLucas, Sinthorntham).