Wildcats miss regional title on buzzer-beating shot

What happened to Godwin Monday in the first round of the regionals happened to Wayland Wednesday in the regional finals… upset!

Elijah Baxter put up what almost looked like a prayer, but went inside the basket just ahead of the final buzzer to give Benton Harbor the Class B regional basketball championship with a 60-57 nail-biter.

But besides Baxter’s shot heard ‘round Michigan, the biggest explanations for the Wildcats’ season-ending loss were fourfold:

• Wayland played without its leading scorer and point guard and floor general Avery Hudson for more than a quarter and a half in the first two periods. Hudson was caught fouling twice in the first four minutes of the ballgame and his dad, coach Mike Hudson, sat him down until intermission.
• Benton Harbor missed one free throw in the first quarter, but then swished 14 in a row, four in the last two minutes. For the ‘Cats, even Hudson missed a couple at the line, as did the usually reliable 6-7 pivot Zack Nieuwkoop.
• The ‘Cats committed more turnovers than in any other game this season, perhaps even more than against Grand Rapids Christian. Even worse, many of them were outcomes from lazy passes that the quick Tigers converted.
• The Twin Towers, Nieuwkoop and 6-8 Carter Nyp, probably missed more easy inside shots under the basket than in another contest for the campaign.

That fearsome foursome of explanations wound up as even more devastating than the buzzer-beating basket by Baxter.

Wayland actually trailed throughout most of the ballgame, though never by more than six points. Without Avery Hudson, Mitch Dykstra stepped up his game a bit and he nailed a lot of layups and a couple of threes to pick up the slack.

Dykstra finished the first half with 12 points and Nieuwkoop had six. But the Tigers’ were getting some terrific outside shooting from Roy Anderson, who had 13 points at the break, and Benton Harbor was up 27-25 at intermission.

Hudson returned to the lineup in the third period and Wayland took brief and slim leads of one or two points, only to see the Tigers respond with the awakened offense of Shawn Hopkins.

Benton Harbor was clinging to a two-point lead to start the fourth quarter, but Wayland regained a 50-49 advantage not much later on a three-point play by Nieuwkoop. The Tigers then scored four conseutive free throws to take a three-point lead 55-52 and exploited a defensive lapse for an easy lay-in to mount a 57-52 cushion with only about 1:20 left.

Nyp hit a clutch three to pull the Wildcats to within two and then Nieuwkoop put an exclamation point on knotting the count at 57 with a slam dunk and just 17 seconds to go.

Benton Harbor coach Corey Sterling smartly called his last timeout with 11 seconds remaining. The Tigers then frantically whipped the ball around and got it to Baxter who was well guarded, but launched a shot that settled in the net as the buzzer went off.

Nieuwkoop and Dykstra both scored 17 points for Wayland and Hudson had 13 in his limited playing time. Nyp added eight points.

Anderson finished with 19 points, Hopkins had 15, Baxter 9 and 6-6 freshman Carlos Johnson, who did a good defensive job inside on Nieuwkoop and Nyp, had eight points.

Wayland’s season ended with a 21-4 overall record. Benton Harbor moves into the quarterfinals at Caledonia Tuesday night with a 21-3 record.

PHOTO: There was no joy in Allegan Wednesday night for coaches Mike Hudson (left) and Chris Jasinski as the mighty Wildcats went down at the buzzer in the regional finals. (Photo courtesy of Kenny Ritz)