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Add another chapter to the DeShaun Thomas legacy.
The Bishop Luers sophomore’s tip-in as time ran out propelled the Knights to an improbable 72-71 win over Bishop Dwenger on Friday.
Luers (4-2, 2-1) trailed 71-70 with 5.7 seconds left when Dwenger’s Joe Kosiarek missed two free throws.
Luers’ Troy Amos was fouled just before getting off a desperation 15-footer with four-tenths of a second on the clock.
Amos missed the first free throw, and then his second attempt bounced a couple of times on the rim before the 6-foot-8 Thomas came flying in and tipped the ball in with his left (shooting) hand as the buzzer sounded.
“That tip, I knew I was going to get it,” Thomas said.
“I just kept my head in it and tipped it in, and we won the ballgame.”
Luers set up a play before the missed free throw that in case of an Amos’ miss, Thomas was to cross over to the other side of the lane with teammate Sean Day.
But Thomas busted the play and the Saints’ hopes by going to the basket almost untouched.
Thomas, who finished with 35 points, also hit a three-pointer with eight seconds left to bring the Knights to within 71-70.
In the regular-season finale last year, Thomas’ buzzer-beater beat North Side and kept the Redskins from sharing the SAC title. Dwenger benefited with the outright SAC regular-season championship.
“It was just like the North Side game,” Thomas said. “And if I can do it in that game, I can do it in any game.”
Thomas, who averages 28 points, scored 16 in the third quarter and 11 in the fourth to shake off a slow 1-of-10 shooting start.
“He is a great athlete and had perfect timing,” Luers coach James Blackmon said of the tip-in. “You have good players, and you have great players. He struggled early, but that is part of the game. He knocked down some really big buckets for us in the second half.”
It was an incomplete and frustrating comeback for the Saints (4-2, 1-2), who rallied from a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit to take their first lead, 69-67, with 26 seconds left on two Isaac Campbell free throws.
Campbell hit two more freebies with 19 seconds left to make it 71-67 Saints before Thomas’ final two shots.
“This was a crazy game,” Blackmon said. “We have to do a better job of securing that lead. If we get a team down, like we did, we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
gjones@jg.net
