Bluegrassrivals

FRANKFORT - Jake Burger's fall-away, game-winning jumper in the lane at the final buzzer on Sunday in the Touchstone Energy All "A" Classic boys' basketball final at Frankfort Convention Center may very well go down in Holy Cross history as "The Shot."

Burger took the inbound pass from Travis Thompson with 1.8 seconds to play, glided into the center of the lane and hit a twisting bank shot as the buzzer sounded, giving the Indians a shocking 52-51 come-from-behind victory over Bardstown for their first small-school basketball championship.

• Take our high school nicknames quiz
• Enquirer high school sports blog
• Check us out on Facebook
• More prep coverage

Burger's buzzer-beater came after the Indians were able to get the ball to their end of the court on a Kyle Fuller court-length pass to Tony Campbell. The ball sailed out of bounds after hitting a Bardstown defender, setting up the final play.

"It's surreal. It's crazy. I'm just in awe," said Thompson, who was instructed to look inside to Campbell on an inbound play the Indians call "Strong."

"We didn't want Bardstown to set up its defense on the play so I made a muscle and they knew what to do," Holy Cross coach Erik Goetz said. "The ball was supposed to go to Tony. But it went to Jake instead and there's nobody else I'd rather see take that shot."

Burger finished with a game-high 18 points and was named tournament most valuable player for Holy Cross (22-2), the top-ranked team in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll. Campbell (12 points, 14 rebounds), Thompson and Jared Fortner were named all-tournament.

The foursome helped the Indians rally from a 12-point deficit against Bardstown (18-7) to begin the fourth quarter, a lead the Tigers built by holding Holy Cross to three third-quarter points.

"We just had to keep chipping away and chipping away in the fourth, and we finally got it close by making shots," Burger said. "I'm really glad I made that last one."

Bardstown, in the small-school final for the fourth time in seven years, led 47-44 with 1:58 to play. Fortner hit a basket in transition to pull the Indians to within a point with 1:28 left.

Bardstown sank a pair of free throws to go back up by three, but the Indians' Christian McClendon drilled a 3-point basket with 45.9 seconds remaining to tie it at 49, setting the stage for Burger's heroics.

"What a game for Burger," Goetz said of the senior guard, who averaged 19 points in four tournament contests. "We played smart to get back into it and we made runs. It's unbelievable. I'm so happy for the kids."

Anthony Myrks led Bardstown with 17 points and teammate Jordan Brewer scored 13. The Tigers outshot the Indians from the floor, making 45 percent compared to 36.8 percent for Holy Cross, which also was outrebounded, 34-28.

The difference for the Indians was the fourth quarter, when they outscored Bardstown, 22-9.

"I thought we played great at the end," Burger said. "We expected to win. The only thing I didn't expect was that last shot being a bank shot."
http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...t|Sports|s

I still have no words for what I witnessed today at the All A in both girls and boys games. Both teams deserved to win AND lose. Very competitive game, but fairly sloppy on both sides. Holy Cross started pretty hot, then Bardstown caught fire, then HC somehow climbed back into the game. Those 2 were clearly the best teams in the All A.

Congrats to Bardstown on a fantastic game, they played their hearts out. Congrats to the Indians on the victory and title. Now get some well needed practice and get ready for CovCath.

Btw, that 3 point shot was the best buzzer beater I've ever seen

More hardware for Latonia
Nice going

http://www.tristateinternetsportsradio.c...winner.wmv

Thats a while to load.

Sunday's championship game is now national news on Yahoo "Prep Rally"!

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool...18459.html