By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Thalen Hillman made a memory that will last for a lifetime Friday night at Guthrie.
The 5-foot-11 guard put in a halfcourt buzzer-beater to propel Piedmont to a dramatic 57-56 comeback victory over the Blue Jays.
“I’ve been a part of some buzzer-beaters, but nothing like that,” head coach Wil Scofield said. “It was really cool for the guys. They deserved it.”
Scofield had a perfect angle to watch Hillman release the prayer from the halfcourt stripe and, from the time it left his hand, thought the shot had a chance.
Super exciting game for the Wildcats tonight! Game winning, buzzer beater, half court shot! Of course we had to get a picture with the Big Cat! pic.twitter.com/tN4gAAxzVs
— PHS Varsity Pom Squad (@PiedmontPom) February 19, 2022
“I’m looking at it and thinking… that’s going to be in the vicinity,” Scofield said. “It was truly a once in a lifetime deal.”
The shot capped a fourth-quarter rally and sent PHS (6-16) with momentum into its postseason opener vs. No. 6 Ardmore (12-11) Friday night at Oklahoma City Southeast.
“It can’t be bad, that’s for sure,”Scofield said of closing the regular season with an exciting win. ” The elation and pure joy for those guys, there’s not much that could be better going into the playoffs.”
The Wildcats have to beat Ardmore to reach the double-elimination portion of the regional playoffs. The Tigers beat McAlester 91-86 in their regular season finale and play an up-tempo style, Scofield said.
“We know they like to get up and down and score a lot of points. It’ll be a clash of styles. We want to control the pace because we’ve found when we do that we’re successful,” Scofield said.
Piedmont has won two of three games entering Friday’s game and is playing its best basketball of the season, Scofield said.
“We have really settled into our identity. It’s being intense and scrappy on defense and controlling the pace on offense,” he said. “We’re not going to be intimidated by (Ardmore).”
