FREMONT – It’s the play every basketball player has practiced a million times in his driveway, at the end of practice, in video games and in his daydreams.
Maliek Johnson
One second to play, down by a point. Catch and shoot. Swish. Game.
Few, however, ever actually get to live out the fantasy.
Maliek Johnson did just that Friday night. And not for the first time, either.
The Fremont Ross senior guard took an inbounds pass from Jabryis Heidelburg, pumped faked a shot to get his defender to leave his feet, squared up from the corner and drained the game-winning basket as the buzzer sounded, giving the Little Giants their first win of the season in thrilling fashion, 50-48.
“It’s a nice experience. I’ve hit a buzzer-beater every year in high school and every time it gets better,” Johnson said.
“I knew Lima was going to be aggressive there, they’re a really aggressive team,” he said of the shot. “So I pumped faked, they bit for it, and luckily I had enough time to get it off.”
Ross’ previous attempt to take the lead ended in a missed shot with the rebound going out of bounds with one second to play. Ross and Lima each took a timeout to get set for the deciding play.
“We talked in that timeout, with one second you don’t have to go right to the catch-and-shoot, you can actually get a lift, a shot-fake there,” Ross coach Mark Gedeon said. “I thought it was good poise because the clock doesn’t start until he catches the ball. All he needed was the quick up-fake and get the guy to commit and he hit an amazing shot. It’s great for our kids.”
Win by the 3, don’t die by the 3
While Johnson’s 3-pointer won the game, Friday night differentiated itself from the five losses that came before it by the Little Giants’ determination to not shoot the long-ball.
Ross had come too reliant on the 3-pointer, often settling for shots instead of being aggressive in the half-court. Friday, the Little Giants flipped the script. They took only five 3-point attempts in the first half, instead driving the lane and finishing in the paint. Ross’ new-found aggressiveness, combined with just four first-half turnovers, kept Ross close, trailing by two points, 31-29, at halftime.
“We worked on trying to finish with two feet in the paint,” Gedeon said. “We knew with Lima’s pressure it would create some early opportunities for offense for us. We didn’t want to settle for 3-pointers there.
“One of the things we’ve lacked this year is getting buckets by putting them on their heels as opposed to us firing way from the outside all the time.”
While Johnson’s late-game heroics will be what gets talked about by the masses, the Little Giants’ could not have been in position to win on a buzzer-beater had it not been for their best four-quarter effort of the season.
Playing against a Lima team that had already beaten Ross, such as Anthony Wayne and Toledo Central Catholic, and a one-point loss to St. Francis, the Little Giants had to contend with the Spartans’ quick, aggressive defensive pressure in both full- and half-courts, consisting of tremendous quickness and good length.
Heidelburg played a tremendous game at the point guard position, changing up Ross’ offensive tempo, to keep the Spartans on their toes. Heidelburg finished with a team-high 15 points while Johnson finished with 14. Bryce Root added 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
“It’s definitely our best four-quarter effort, no doubt about it,” Gedeon said. “…What I told the kids in the lockerroom was each and every one of our players gave us such positive contributions. It wasn’t a one-man show. It wasn’t two or three guys. Every player played well for us tonight. We need five guys on the floor to always be playing as one and when the guys on bench came in there was no let-up. There is no question our depth helped us tonight.”
The Little Giants (1-5 overall, 1-4 TRAC) have little time to bask in their first win of the season. Ross is right back at it Saturday night when it hosts neighbor Clyde at about 7:30.
“It feels good,” Root said. “We should be in there (the win column) a little more, though. We had a couple close games. We have Clyde coming in tomorrow, we have to come out and compete with the same intensity.”
With his team’s first win finally out of the way, Gedeon is hopeful the Little Giants can use Friday’s victory as a springboard.
“That’s the psychology not only of sports but in dealing with teenagers,” Gedeon said. “This win does take a lot of the burden off some of these kids’ back. They even talked about it after the Findlay game, they didn’t want to be the Cleveland Browns, as much as I love the Cleveland Browns. You want to be able to focus on playing the game of basketball, not ‘When are we going to get our first win?’
“For us to get it against a quality opponent, an outstanding program over the last couple of years, in the dramatic fashion that we did, there is no question it can be very uplifting.”
Fremont Ross 50, Lima Senior 48
LIMA (48)
Miller 5 2-4 12; Clair 4 0-0 8; King 6 4-6 17; Daniel 1 0-0 3; Johnson2 0-0 4; Colon 2 0-0 4. Totals: 20 6-10 48.
FREMONT ROSS (50)
Johnson 6 1-2 14; Anderson 0 3-3 3; Heidelburg 7 1-2 15; Root 4 2-2 10; Campbell 2 0-2 6; Lewis 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 7-11 50.
3-pointers: Lima, 2 (King, Daniel); Ross 3 (Campbell 2, Johnson 1).