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In a heartbeat: Pugh hits last-second free throw to cap wild sequence, 50-49 East victory
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Basketball is a team sport.
Yet when Friday night's district opener between Plano East and Plano Senior was to be decided, only Panthers senior Jarvis Pugh stood on the court.
And he got the job done by sinking a free throw to give the Panthers (1-0 in district) a 50-49 victory over the Wildcats (0-1), 50-49.
He had reason to be as the stands at Plano were filled with fans that let their emotions and chants be heard.
"It was a great environment tonight," said Phil Parlin, Plano head coach. "Reminds me of the old days."
"You look around here tonight, see the stands filled and all the kids standing around the court," added Jeff Clarkson, East head coach, "and then you add in what an intense game this was ... it was everything high school basketball should be."
The intensity reached its height in the final minute.
Plano held a 49-47 lead following a putback from junior Broderick Perkins, who scored 10, but East senior Marcus Mathieu forced the seventh tie of the evening and reached his game-high total of 13 points after sinking a pair of free throws with 40 seconds remaining.
That allowed Plano plenty of time to complete the upset.
The Wildcats made their move with less than 12 seconds remaining, but a drive through the lane ended with a loose ball that Pugh grabbed just behind midcourt with nothing in front of him and less than five seconds remaining.
"At that moment I was more focused on not falling out of bounds," Pugh said. "I looked at the clock and knew I had enough time."
Pugh sprinted to the basket, but missed the dunk with 0.9 seconds to go after being intentionally fouled. Due to the nature of the foul, the court was cleared and Pugh was given two shots.
"When you're a kid growing up and practicing, you always want that last shot," he said. "So I was focused on making my free throws."
Plano had a different focus.
"We were subbing guys, wasting time, kind of hoping to ice him," Parlin said.
Pugh missed the first free throw.
"My heart dropped after that," he said.
"At that point, there isn't much you can do," Clarkson said. "You're looking at him saying, 'just make this one Jarvis."
He did, despite Plano fans leaving the stands and crowding the edge of the court. Pugh's eighth point gave East a 50-49 edge, the 12th lead change of the game, and win by the same tally.
"I told the guys, 'there is nothing I can do to make the pain go away right now,'" Parlin said. "I was really disappointed for them because they played the right way; they showed hustle and passion throughout the night."
That was evident early as Plano held a 10-6 lead after the first quarter and upped that advantage to six in the second thanks to a balanced offensive attack that featured 10 points each from seniors Dustin Bercutt, Sheldon O'Neal (who also had five rebounds) and sophomore Jason Bardgett.
"We were attacking the rim more," Parlin said, "but we also played with patience on offense."
That was the antithesis of East.
"We were very impatient in the first quarter," Clarkson said. "We'd have two passes and a jump shot, two passes and a jump shot."
East closed the gap to 23-22 by halftime as the Panthers got seven points from senior Patrick Birt, six apiece from senior Sawyer Kipp and junior Zach Smith, and five from junior Trey Patterson. A free throw by Patterson gave East a 35-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter, a one-point advantage it would maintain at the end of the frame.
"This was a huge win for us," Clarkson said. "I told the guys coming in to throw the records out because this was a rivalry game and we knew it would be tough."
Both teams return to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday with the Panthers hosting McKinney Boyd and the Wildcats on the road against Plano West.
"I think most teams in our district are going to lose to Plano East, but we sent a message tonight that we are here to play," Parlin said. "If we do that for the next nine games, we're going to be a tough out."
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