Nahjier Johnson planned, throughout the overtime period of the Liverpool boys basketball team’s first-place showdown with West Genesee Tuesday night, to have a big role in the outcome.
“I wanted to have the ball in my hands,” said Johnson.
As it turned out, Johnson would get the ball, at the most important moment possible, and deliver the biggest shot of the Warriors’ season.
Just beating the horn, Johnson’s short jumper at the top of the lane gave the state Class AA no. 15-ranked Warriors a 58-57 victory over the Wildcats and sole possession of first place in the CNY Counties League.
Trailing by one, 57-56, with 8.8 seconds left in OT, Liverpool took a timeout. It had just seen WG’s Jack Bova just miss on a 3-point attempt that may have put the game away.
Head coach Ryan Blackwell said that the plan was to have Jonah Harder screen for Charles Pride as he drove to the basket and, if that didn’t work, pass it to Johnson.
Pride did get the ball, but decided to pass off to Johnson, who from the corner dribbled to the point, waiting as long as possible before getting off his shot less than half a second before the horn. It swished through, and Johnson was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.
In particular, Pride and Devan Mederios had to feel relief to go with their happiness. Both of them missed free throws late in the fourth quarter that allowed WG to stay alive.
Pride could not convert on either of his foul shots with 1:03 left. Seconds later, Bova’s 3-pointer tied the game, 50-50, after which the Warriors worked the ball around until Mederios, driving to the basket, was fouled with 1.6 seconds to play.
Not only did that cause the Wildcats’ leading scorer, Malik Zachery, to foul out, it gave Mederios two free throws. He missed the first, and after a WG timeout, missed the second one, too, sending the game to OT.
Given the way regulation ended, said Johnson, it was important that his team stay calm. Every bit of that patience would be required.
Even without Zachery, the Wildcats hung in there during the four-minute extra period, with his replacement, freshman Will Amica, draining a pair of free throws with just under a minute to play that gave WG a 57-56 lead.
Pride, on the ensuing possession, missed, and the Wildcats got the ball back. Bova had his chance to put the game away, but it rattled in and out of the net, and seconds later Johnson didn’t miss his opportunity.
This game differed in a big way from Liverpool’s 78-54 rout of WG two weeks earlier. Bova had missed that game with an ankle injury, but he was quite present here, hitting on his first three shots (two of them 3-pointers) and ultimately pushing the Wildcats to a 25-19 halftime lead.
Led by Pride and Johnson, the Warriors opened the second half on a 17-6 run to grab the lead, and it grew as large as eight, 48-40, midway through the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back baskets by Zachery initiated WG’s late 10-2 run that, with a little help from Liverpool’s struggles at the foul line, forced OT – and a dramatic finish that ultimately made Liverpool quite happy.
Johnson’s game-winner gave him 21 points for the night, nearly matching the 23 points he put up in the first game against WG. Pride had 17 points and Mederios got 12 points as Zachery (15 points) and Bova (14 points) paced the Wildcats.
