ST. JOSEPH — Had Braymer Bobcats senior guard John Haley not been sick for several days already, what happened in the final eight seconds of Saturday night’s Class 1 high school basketball state tournament game might have brought on an upset stomach. Fortunately for him and the Bobcats, the treatment was quick and totally effective: Take three misses and celebrate until morning.
Having led the Jefferson Eagles of Conception Junction since Haley opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, Braymer held on to a 48-45 victory and gained a trip to Columbia for the state semifinals and finals when Jefferson didn’t make any of three free throws it attempted with 0.7 seconds remaining.
That allowed Braymer’s calm senior guard to exhale after, having snazzily fitted himself for the hero’s mantle by cleanly netting five-straight foul shots in the contest’s last 40 seconds before missing a sixth one which would have sealed the triumph, he’d hammered Clayton Schieber on a potential tying 3-point attempt to also position himself for goat’s horns.
When the final horn sounded, Braymer – beaten in the quarterfinals by King City in 2004 and state title-bound Jefferson in 2005 – had its first trip to Columbia since the 2003 Bobcats went there and took fourth place.
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ST. JOSEPH — Had Braymer Bobcats senior guard John Haley not been sick for several days already, what happened in the final eight seconds of Saturday night’s Class 1 high school basketball state tournament game might have brought on an upset stomach. Fortunately for him and the Bobcats, the treatment was quick and totally effective: Take three misses and celebrate until morning.
Having led the Jefferson Eagles of Conception Junction since Haley opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, Braymer held on to a 48-45 victory and gained a trip to Columbia for the state semifinals and finals when Jefferson didn’t make any of three free throws it attempted with 0.7 seconds remaining.
That allowed Braymer’s calm senior guard to exhale after, having snazzily fitted himself for the hero’s mantle by cleanly netting five-straight foul shots in the contest’s last 40 seconds before missing a sixth one which would have sealed the triumph, he’d hammered Clayton Schieber on a potential tying 3-point attempt to also position himself for goat’s horns.
When the final horn sounded, Braymer – beaten in the quarterfinals by King City in 2004 and state title-bound Jefferson in 2005 – had its first trip to Columbia since the 2003 Bobcats went there and took fourth place.
