Hilliard Bradley 44, Pickerington Central 42
Jayden Reed-Davis' lay-in at the buzzer gives the Jags their first state title game appearance
Written by 270 Hoops staff writer Greg Glasser
FAIRBORN, OH — There’s an old saying that the harder you work, the more luck you have.
While Saturday night’s Division I state semifinal duel between Hilliard Bradley and Pickerington Central at Wright State’s Nutter Center featured two teams that played equally hard, a bit of luck favored the Jags on the final possession of a tied game.
In a game that was close for the entire 32 minutes, the Jaguars and the Tigers were tied at 42 as Hilliard Bradley had the ball out of a timeout with 1:11 left on the clock.
The Jaguars ultimately choose to take advantage of Ohio not having a shot clock and stalled the entire possession, until Kypton Norris took a deep three with six seconds remaining.
His attempt hit the front rim, which led to Bradley sophomore Anderson Felix to battle with Central’s Landon Evans for the board, where Felix was able to tip the ball to an open Jayden Reed-Davis who was able to finish the lay-in to give the Jaguars a 44-42 final lead that left only a half second left on the clock. The Tigers were unable to get off a final shot attempt.
Perhaps “luck” isn’t the right term, given Reed-Davis did exactly what he knew he had to do.
“On a final possession shot, you just know you have to crash the boards,” Reed-Davis, a sophomore said after the game. “Sometimes on those final shots, you can catch the other team not fully boxing out, so that’s why I crashed.”
