All Jamar Wertz wanted was another shot. And he got it.
After misfiring on a 3-pointer with about five seconds left that would have given King’s Fork a dramatic come-from-behind victory, he retrieved a missed shot by teammate Jay Copeland and hit a follow shot with six-tenths of a second remaining to lift the Bulldogs to a 56-55 victory over Deep Creek in the Eastern Region semifinals Friday night before a packed house at Churchland High School.
The best part: The four-year school is headed to the Group AAA state tournament.
“I just tried to hit the backboard and hope that it went in,” said Wertz, who scored 11 of his team-high 21 points in the deciding fourth quarter. “And once I saw it go in, then I saw everybody run onto the court.”
King’s Fork, which has won 15 of its last 16 games, meets Bethel (26-1) on Monday at 8 p.m. for the Eastern Region title.
It was an amazing ending in what has been an incredible season for the Bulldogs (24-4).
But with King’s Fork trailing by 11 at the start of the fourth quarter, the season looked like it was coming to an end as several players began to hang their heads.
That’s when junior Jaquon Parker challenged his teammates.
“I told them it was time to play because I wasn’t trying to have my season end tonight,” he said. “I told them that we’ve got to lock up on defense and score some buckets; and my boys responded.”
Parker got it going with a foul shot that was followed by two more free throws from Wertz with to get the deficit down to eight.
The Bulldogs could see the Deep Creek players tighten up.
The play that may have swung the momentum came when Jay Copeland caught a missed shot in the air and slammed home a thunderous two-hand dunk that not only ignited the players, but the Bulldog fans.
His dunk made it a six-point game.
But the Hornets stayed in front and held a 53-48 lead with two minutes remaining.
The scrappy Bulldogs refused to give up and outscored the Hornets 6-2 to make it a one-point game when Wertz made two free throws with 19.3 seconds left.
King’s Fork then trapped Ed Roberts deep in the Deep Creek backcourt and forced him to travel with 15.6 seconds remaining, putting itself in position to win the game.
“We were looking for a play off the inbounds but it didn’t work, so then we were looking for a play for Wertz,” said King’s Fork coach Josh Worrell. “His shot didn’t go in but everybody crashed the boards. I thought Jay (Copeland) was going to make his shot, but Jamar kept fighting hard and put the ball in the hoop and the game was over.”
Parker, who gave the motivational speech at the start of the fourth quarter, didn’t even see the final shot.
“I saw Jamar miss then I saw Jay got it and missed but then I got knocked to the ground,” he said. “So I didn’t know who had the ball until I saw the guys jumping up and down and I knew we had won.”
Deep Creek was trying to advance to its first state tournament since the 1991 season.
The Hornets (21-6) were led by Corey Law, who finished with a game-high 25 points, but only four in the fourth quarter. He also had 13 rebounds. Roberts also contributed with 11 and Chesson had 10.
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More deserving
Every team has been working to make it to the state tournament and have a chance at winning it. I can't say whether a certain team deserves it more or has worked any harder than another team but what I can say is King's Fork has had an impressive run. Will they win Region who knows but they do have a shot. Will they win states who knows but they have a shot which is what every team wants.
Go Bulldogs
No team is more deserving of this. Coach Worrell, his coaching staff, and the young men on the team have been working since the opening of the school to get to this point. It is good to see our school being represented in a positive light and these young men having the opportunity to experience this moment in their high school careers. Congratulations and Good Luck!!!!
Wertz is the man
When are people going to give Jamar wertz his credit. Everyone is always talking about J. Parker when speaking of King's fork Basketball. I have said it before and I'll say it again Wertz is the guy that gets that team going. He was the man who led them to the SED Championship last Friday out scoring and out rebounding Parker but Parker wins the MVP. Now tonight he score nearly half of their points including the game winner. Give that boy his proper respect immediately. And he can consistently make free throws which Parker can't seem to do.