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WOODBURN – This time, Lawrence Barnett got to be the hero.
The Bishop Luers junior’s layup with 2 seconds left lifted Class 2A No. 3 Bishop Luers past top-ranked Bluffton 66-64 on Saturday in the finals of the Woodlan Sectional.
Barnett is often overshadowed in the final seconds by sophomore sensation DeShaun Thomas, including the SAC tournament championship game when Thomas collected a Barnett miss for a putback and the game-winner.
Luers (20-3) will face the winner of Monday’s Oak Hill-Tipton sectional championship in the first game of the Tipton Regional at 10 a.m. Saturday.
With the tied game at 64, the Knights held the ball with two minutes left and whittled the clock down to 13 seconds and called a timeout.
Barnett then drove to the basket, pulled up from about five feet and his jumper trickled into the net with 2 seconds left.
“They left me open, and I drove down the lane,” Barnett said. “I was going to kick it out, but I was open, and I took it up and it went in.
“I knew either (Thomas) was going to take it or I was going to take it. If I miss, I knew he would be there to tip it in. Fortunately, it went down for me, and we won the game.”
Bluffton called two timeouts before Jared Johnson’s long three-pointer hit the back of the rim and bounced out.
“Bluffton is a great team, and we underestimated them,” Barnett said. “People were saying we were going to blow them out, but we weren’t thinking that. We got lucky and came out with the win.”
The 6-foot-7 Thomas was there just in case Barnett missed. Thomas also had a tip-in to beat Bishop Dwenger.
“That’s my specialty, and I always follow the shots,” Thomas said. “I was ready.”
Barnett scored 17 points, and Thomas, who battled a double team all game, had 15 for the Knights.
Freshman Evan Blackmon had 12 points, and senior Steve Williamson added 11.
Thomas, who averages 29 points, had only 10 points in a 65-54 semifinal win over Woodlan on Friday.
“All season, we knew we weren’t a one-person team,” Barnett said. “It is going to take five players to win a game, and we showed that.”
After winning the school’s first sectional title last year in 3A, Luers made it back-to-back with a 2A crown after dropping down a class this season.
The junior-dominated Tigers (23-1) saw their undefeated season end.
Bluffton led most of the game until Luers outscored the Tigers 17-7 in the fourth quarter.
“We are going to make mistakes because we aren’t perfect, but I think we were as close to that as I can expect from them,” Bluffton coach Wayne Barker said.
Bluffton got 26 points from Johnson and 18 from Brock Woodward, who was a game-time decision with a knee injury suffered in the semifinals, but played the whole game. Cody Cochran added 13.
gjones@jg.net
