Just when it looked like the Fernley High School boys basketball team might finally have found the antidote to the bad luck that had haunted them in the state tournament the past four years, fate dealt them yet another cruel twist in last Saturday’s 3A state championship game.
In a tense battle that had seven lead changes in the fourth quarter alone, The Meadows’ Alex Hutchison hit an acrobatic reverse layup with 42 seconds left in the game that sealed the Mustangs’ first state title since moving up to 3A with a 59-52 win and ended Fernley’s hopes of winning its first since 1958.
It was the second consecutive loss in the state championship game for the Vaqueros, who were making their fifth consecutive appearance in the state tournament. Four of their losses in those five tournaments have come down to the final minute.
Saturday, the Vaqueros took the lead three times in the final 3 minutes, 15 seconds of the game, the last time at 52-51 on a basket by Bodie Parsons with 1:56 left in the game. But almost before Fernley could even get set on defense, The Meadows’ Grant Moses drilled a 3-pointer with 1:40 left to put the Mustangs back on top 54-52.
After a Vaquero miss left them needing one more defensive stop to give themselves a chance to regain the lead, the Vaqueros had Hutchison surrounded on the baseline with the shot clock running down. But somehow, while in midair, he reached under the basket from the opposite side and flipped in a reverse layup that put The Meadows up 56-52 with 42 seconds left, and the Vaqueros were unable to answer. A free throw and a dunk just before the buzzer made the score look far different than the game itself.
The Vaqueros entered the fourth quarter with a 36-31 lead, but the Meadows scored the first eight points of the quarter to move ahead 39-36. The Meadows eventually went up 47-41, but Fernley scored seven straight, all by Sheldon Jacobson, to go back on top, 48-47. Before that, the largest lead of the game had been 10-4 by the Meadows and the teams were separated by more than four points on only four occasions.
“In the fourth quarter, we had a difficult time getting around them,” Fernley coach Cade Knutson said. “We faced that (kind of) defense in the preseason, but not that level of athlete or size anytime recently.”
After all the misfortune that flowed them in their recent trips to state, the Vaqueros seemed to have shaken that off in Friday’s 54-52 semifinal win over Virgin Valley.
The Vaqueros led 46-35 after Jacobson scored on a putback with 7:45 left in the game, but a 14-4 run pulled the Bulldogs within 50-49 with 2:16 left in the game.
Leading 54-52, the Vaqueros were called for a foul with 0.1 seconds on the clock.
Knutson couldn’t help but flash back to 2023, when Somerset Losee banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to snatch a state title from the Vaqueros.
“In our heads, we’ve just had such bad luck from the basketball gods the last couple years,” he said. “I’m just sitting there thinking something bad is going to happen.”
Instead, the Bulldogs missed both free throws, the second one intentionally in hopes of tipping in the rebound.
“We just had such phenomenal support from the community from our students, so as much as that call, we didn’t agree with it, we knew that kid was going to have a heck of a time making two free throws in such an adverse environment,” Knutson said. “That’s the loudest that gym has ever been.”
Michael Fitzgerald had given the Vaqueros that two-point lead with two free throws.
“I don’t know if there’s a person on the planet other than Steph Curry you want shooting a free throw in a pressure situation more than Michael Fitzgerald,” Knutson said. “I mean, the dude has hit some incredibly pressure-packed free throws throughout his career.”
The Vaqueros opened up their lead with a 7-0 run to end the third quarter, but like on Saturday, outside of that run and Virgin Valley’s spurt to answer it, neither team led by more than five.
“Any time you’re winning any sort of game in a state tournament, it’s exhilarating, especially when they’re close,” Knutson said.
Even though they came up short in their quest for a state championship, the Vaqueros feel like they’ve proven to be the best public school team in the state in 3A. Four of their losses in their five consecutive state tournament appearances have come to private or charter schools from the Las Vegas area.
“There’s no question,” Knutson said. “We absolutely take pride in the fact that we are, and we have been for four years in a row the best public school 3A team in the state and we’ve proven it. I hope that our kids take pride in that.”
Comment
Comments