High School Hoops: Adams Wins 71-68 at Ferndale in Overtime Thriller

When Ferndale and Adams faced each other in December, the Eagles needed a last-second 3-pointer to steal a 61-58 win on the Highlanders home court.

Adams returned the favor on Thursday night with a thrilling 71-68 overtime win at Ferndale.

Ferndale had two opportunities to tie the game in the final 15 seconds and Adams stopped both of them. Anthony Garland missed a 3-pointer from the corner with a defender in his face with 10.6 seconds left. Adams tipped the ball out of bounds, giving Ferndale a second shot at sending the game into another overtime.

On the ensuing inbounds ball, Garland was looking for Eagles leading scorer Jordan Guinn in the corner. Adams defended it perfectly and the ball sailed on him when he tried to get it to Tavion Bowers at the top of the key. 

“The play was pick to the corner for Jordan looking for the three,” Ferndale coach Tom Staton said. “If the three wasn’t there, we were going to rotate it, swing the inbounder off the bottom pick to the other corner. He sees Jordan not open and throws it away and we don’t even get a shot off. That’s tough.”

The Highlanders (8-6; 6-5 Oakland Activities Association White) grabbed the ball for the steal and ran out the clock.  

“We weren’t worried about them scoring inside on the out of bounds play, so we were able to flair out on everything, and we were able to get hand on the ball,” Adams coach John Hall said.

That wasn’t the only dramatic moment of the game. The Highlanders held the lead for more than 47 minutes of regulation until a late surge brought the Eagles (8-5; 5-4 OAA White) within three.

Down 62-59 in the final minute of the fourth quarter, Ferndale attempted to get an easy basket inside. Willie Harvey missed just in front of the basket and almost sent the ball out of bounds trying to get the rebound.

Garland made a save and found Guinn wide open behind the 3-point line. Guinn nailed the shot and tied the game 62-62 with 34 seconds left as the crowd went wild.

Adams brought the ball up the court and tried to run a set play. Ferndale’s defense clogged the lane and Andrew Hammett barely got a shot off before time expired. Hammett’s shot hit off the rim and the game went into overtime.

“What a great game,” Hall said. “The kids battled. We led the whole game, were never behind until they tied it in last seconds. For us not to fold, our kids showed a lot of character tonight.”

Adams won the game by spreading the ball around. The Highlanders had four players in double digits and two others with more than six. Matt Nestor was the team’s leading scorer with 17 points and Hammett had 13 points. Hammett had six of Adams nine points in overtime.

In the first half, the Eagles struggled defending that offensive balance. In the opening four minutes, the Highlanders had two 6-0 runs and were able to get some easy layups off screens and set plays.

 “That’s been the key for us all year,” Hall said. “When we play well, we have five or six guys that score or more; we’re evenly distributed, and that makes us hard to guard. We don’t have a great player as far as a scorer that can go out and create their own shot.”

Ferndale amped up its press late in the third quarter and gained some momentum. There was a 90-second stretch in the fourth quarter where Adams couldn’t even advance the ball past the half court line.

The Highlanders 12-point third quarter lead shrunk to two points with four minutes to go in the fourth.

“They’re just so quick and athletic,” Hall said. “We expected that kind of run from them and we just tried to weather it.”

Hall said his kids were getting too bunched up in the backcourt, and that lead to the problems.  But Adams worked through the rough stretch and won the game to get back to over. 500 in the OAA White for the first time since early January.