“MacVean’s
the name… beating buzzers is my game.”
This variation of Muhammed Ali’s line from 50 years ago could be used by Martin senior guard Matt MacVean, and he could add, just like Ali, “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true.”
McVean nailed an astonishing desperation bank shot at the end of the second period to tie the game at 35-35 at the half and he came back to swish a three from the top of the key in the fourth quarter to beat the buzzer again. And the second time it was for the win, 66-63 over Saugatuck.
Clippers’ head coach David Curry called a timeout with score knotted at 63 and 30 seconds left on the clock.
“We called timeout to make a decision on how we wanted to try to score with 28 seconds left,” he said. “After we broke from the huddle we run the clock to 10 seconds and used our final timeout to set something up. Saugatuck did a great job defending the play we drew but left MacVean open at the top of the key after a Andrew Boss baseline drive. Boss was able to find Matt standing at the arc and he knocked down the three-point shot at the buzzer to give us the win.”
Nothin’ but net. Then pandemonium.
It was perhaps one of the most entertaining season openers in Martin High School basketball history Tuesday evening, a very satisfying victory over a team regarded as one of the best in the Southwest Athletic Conference.
The Clippers had won their division a year ago, but they had lost a solid ballplayer in Garrett Dill, who is assistant coach now for the jayees.
But returning for his fourth year on the varsity is the burly Tanner Curry, who captured a double-double with the greatest of ease, leading all scorers with 25 points and gathering 15 rebounds. Three of Curry’s baskets were threes.
But besides Curry and MacV
ean, there was another hero in Andrew Boss, who came off the bench in the second quarter to spell a foul-plagued freshman Cayden Curry. Boss dropped in a three and scored seven points in a second quarter to help Martin come back from a deficit of nine, 32-23, to tie it at intermission.
The Clippers were dogged by too many turnovers in the first half that morphed into easy fast-break baskets engineered by all-state football player Blake Dunn. By halftime, Dunn had collected 13 points and Curry 14.
The Indians actually weren’t all that impressive offensively when Martin was able to keep the competition at half court. The Clippers’ zone defense was able to keep Saugatuck a reasonable distance from the hoop and Curry and sophomore teammate Carter Hilton seemed to own the defensive boards.
After a racehorse first 16 minutes, the Clippers were able to slow down the tempo a bit taking better care of the basketball and they actually dared to take leads of three to five points. Saugatuck overtook them by one point a couple of times, only to see Curry and Boss turn the tide.
Dunn scored a layup off a fast break fueled by a turnover to give the Indians and 62-61 lead with 1:12 left, but then Curry swished a pair of clutch free throwns to take back the lead at 63-62. Dunn, who made just two of seven free throws during the evening because of a thumb and pinky injury, made just one in a one-and-one to set the stage for MacVean’s heroics.
Backing Curry’s 25 points were Boss with 16, including three threes, and MacVean, who finished with 15.
Dunn collected 19 points for Saugatuck Wyatt Werme added 14.
The Saugatuck basketball team scored only three points more than did the football team against Martin in October. And this time, it didn’t turn out so well for the Indians.
PHOTOS: Andrew Boss (1) scores her on a left-handed layup.
Tanner Curry (52) battles for one of many of his rebounds.
