Buzzer-beater lifts NL past Lehighton

No one could have seen it coming.

Not the fans who were expecting overtime. Not the players of both teams, those on the benches or those on the court.

Not Lehighton coach Trevor Miller, who admitted after the game that he didn’t even see the play happen because he was looking at the other end of the court where he thought his team might get off a last shot.

Northern Lehigh coach Jeff Miller said he had never seen such a play in all of his 40 years of coaching.

With 2.8 seconds left in regulation of Thursday’s opening round game of the Slatington Rotary Holiday Tournament, Lehighton had possession with the game tied at 48.

The Indians had set up an inbounds pass from under their own basket. Northern Lehigh’s Teague Herzog lined up to defend the pass.

“I put Teague there because he’s our longest player, and with his reach it would make the overhead inbounds pass more difficult to make,” said Bulldog Coach Miller.

Herzog’s long reach blocked the overhead pass and with the final two seconds ticking off the clock, the ball dropped right into his hands.

“I didn’t know what to do then,” he said. “I was really nervous.”

Moving into the paint, thinking he might have a chance at a putback from a Herzog shot was Zach Moyer.

“I wasn’t expecting a pass, but then I got the ball from Teague and I realized I had an easy layup in front of me.”

Moyer’s basket with under a half second to go gave Northern Lehigh a thrilling 50-48 win, its first of the season. The host team will now play Palmerton in tonight’s championship game.

It appeared early on that Lehighton was going to send Northern Lehigh to its ninth straight loss. The Indians raced to a 9-1 lead when Zach Hunsicker scored on a running one-hander with 4:50 left. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were ice cold from the field, hitting on just two of their first 11 shots.

In the second, Nolehi’s shooting improved with six points from Jaden Marlatt and four from both Moyer and Ardit Mujovic. But the Bulldogs still trailed 30-20 at the break.

Jeff Miller, who has now coached against his son Trevor five times, told his team they had to play better defense.

“I said that if we gave them another 30 points in the second half, there was no way we were winning the game. We played aggressively with our man-to-man defense, and our ball pressure got a lot better.”

The Bulldogs held Lehighton (3-3) to 11 points in the third quarter and only seven in the fourth.

Devon Haydt’s bank shot at the 6:55 mark put the Tribe up by nine, but with Grant Olewine’s offensive rebound and subsequent layup, the Bulldogs pulled to within one at 46-45 with 1:10 to play.

Lehighton coach Trevor Miller tried to quell NL’s momentum.

“We tried switching to a zone,” he said, “but on offense, we didn’t know how to play with the lead. Instead of running our sets and lengthening our possessions, we sped up. Instead of five or six passes, we tried to score after two or three.”

Mujovic’s bucket with 32 seconds left gave the Bulldogs their first lead at 48-47, but Ben Schatz’s free throw tied the score 18 seconds later. Lehighton called its final timeout at 2.8 seconds, and the inbounds pass was blocked and stolen by Herzog, setting up the dramatic game-winner by Moyer.

“Despite not having won before this game, our players leave it all on the floor every night,” said Bulldog coach Miller. “We have a good number of juniors and seniors, but combined they have very little varsity experience. Hopefully a win like this will be a turning point.”

Marlatt led all scorers with 18 points. Hunsicker paced the Indians with 14.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON ... Both coaches said the same thing after the game about their team’s play. “We have to learn how to win,” said Jeff Miller. “We have to learn how to win when we have a big lead,” said the Tribe’s Trevor Miller.

NO POINTS, NO MATTER ... Herzog didn’t score or attempt a shot, but it was his block, steal, and assist that proved to be the deciding factor.

LEHIGHTON

Strauss 2-0-0-5, Hunsicker 6-1-1-14, Lorenz 1-0-2-3, Smith 2-0-0-5, Haydt 1-1-2-3, Yturrino 1-2-2-4, Schatz 5-2-2-12, E. Lutz 0-2-2-2. TOTALS: 18-8-11-48.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Mujoric 4-2-4-10, Richards 0-2-2-2, Olewine 4-0-1-9, D. Smith 0-0-0-0, Moyer 4-0-0-9, C. Smith 1-0-0-2, Herzog 0-0-0-0, Marlatt 8-0-0-18. TOTALS: 21-4-7-50.

Lehighton 15 15 11 7 - 48

No. Lehigh 6 14 14 16 - 50

Three-pointers: Lehighton - Strauss 1, Hunsicker 1, Lorenz 1, Smith 1. Northern Lehigh - Marlatt 2, Olewine 1, Moyer 1.