McKinney’s deflection preserves victory after Panthers storm back in fourth quarter

CANTON, Mo. — Ryan McKinney knew what was coming. He just had to stop it.

With a second remaining in regulation and the Palmyra boys basketball team leading Canton 64-62, the Tigers were inbounding from under the Panthers’ basket in need of a basket to extend the game.

Looming large above the pack in front of the hoop was the Tigers’ Preston Brewer, the 6-foot-7 senior forward who had already scored a career-high 34 points. McKinney figured a lob to Brewer was the play Canton had in mind.

“I knew it was coming,” McKinney said. “I had to make a play.”

McKinney batted away Kaden Oliver’s lob pass, knocking it out of bounds as the clock ran out to preserve the Panthers’ two-point victory.

“I just played the ball,” McKinney said. “It felt like I was in the air forever.”

The final 4.3 seconds felt like forever, too.

Palmyra senior Mason Smith missed both free throws with 24 seconds left to give the ball back to the Tigers down by two. A disjointed start to the possession prompted Canton coach Dalton Armontrout to call his final two timeouts with 12.7 and 4.3 seconds left, respectively.

On the inbounds pass from in front of the Canton bench following the last timeout, the clock did not start immediately, prompting the officials to stop play when Brewer got the ball in the post.

“When they first inbounded the ball, I grabbed it, they blew the whistle, and I was like, ‘What’s going on? Did they call a foul? What happened?’” Brewer said. “I looked at the clock and it had barely moved, and I was like, ‘Oh no.’”

Armontrout had to draw up another play.

“I thought I had a pretty good play call there with four seconds left, but the clock didn’t start,” Armontrout said. “It’s just one of those things. High school basketball at its finest. It is what it is.”

After a lengthy deliberation, the officials decided to put two seconds on the clock and have the Tigers inbound the ball from the baseline. This time, Oliver also tried to pass the ball to Brewer, but Palmyra sophomore Pierce White read the play and got a hand in the passing lane to deflect the pass out of play.

“I was supposed to be faceguarding (Chris Alspaw) because he’s a shooter,” White said. “I happened to just see it out of the corner of my eye because I assumed it was going to (Brewer). I got in there and just happened to make a play.”

White’s deflection set up McKinney’s denial, but Brewer took responsibility for not out-leaping McKinney.

“I just have to catch the ball,” Brewer said. “That’s on me. If I catch the ball, we win.”

Brewer felt like the game should not have come down to that final play. Canton led 50-41 entering the fourth quarter and by 10 with five minutes to play. Brewer said the Tigers’ inability to handle the Panthers’ pressure turned the game on its ear. The Panthers first took the lead off of a White steal and a Smith layup that put the Panthers in front 55-54 with 3:01 remaining.

“We kept turning the ball over, just making careless mistakes, throwing it away, myself included,” Brewer said. “That gave them all the momentum and put us on our heels.”

Armontrout saw it from the bench.

“They were running their halfcourt trap, and we couldn’t control it,” Armontrout said. “We would turn it over or get a charge call or take a bad shot. It just gave them the momentum. It just kind of ballooned from there.”

Palmyra coach Brian Rea said the Panthers played far from a perfect game, but they executed in the clutch.

“We didn’t give up, we kept at it, and we did what we needed to do,” Rea said. “It was heart. They played with heart. The crowd was great, tough environment to play in, very tough team to play. We did just enough. I’m proud of that. I’m not happy with our attitude or execution for the whole game, but when it mattered most, we got the job done.”

The Panthers led 57-56 with 1:50 left when Palmyra junior Noah Williams got the ball at the left elbow and hit White with a backdoor bounce pass, and White laid the ball up and in to give the Panthers a 59-56 lead.

“It was hard to hear me, but I was screaming and screaming and screaming to get it, and they did,” Rea said. “Noah’s a really smart kid. I knew if we could get him to the high post that he would make the right read, and he did, then Pierce attacked the basket.”

McKinney and the Panthers felt a jolt of energy after that play.

“I felt tired, but then I didn’t right away,” McKinney said. “It just gave us all a spark.”

White made two of the most important free throws of the game when he swished both foul shots with 43 seconds left to push the Panthers’ lead to 64-60.

“For a sophomore to step up, hit two free throws, nothing but net, it’s huge,” Rea said.

A Brewer layup 13 seconds later brought the score to 64-62 before Smith’s missed free throws and the Tigers’ attempt to tie the game went awry.

The Panthers (3-0) turn their attention to the 100th Monroe City Basketball Tournament. Palmyra, the No. 1 seed, will play the final first round game against No. 8 seed Mark Twain at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Canton (2-1) will hit the road for a date with West Burlington (Iowa) at 3 p.m. Saturday.