With just eight seconds left to go in the game, and perhaps the season, Daniel Barnes seemed poised to pull off one more miracle. Only moments before, the Fairfax faithful had launched into a premature, “season’s over” chant directed at the Jefferson team, who trailed by five with 15 seconds left.
But the season wasn’t over. Not yet anyways. Colonials’ senior forward Daniel Barnes (22 points) hit an improbable, off-balance three pointer to shrink the lead to two, and then senior forward Spencer MacLeod, who is also the school’s quarterback, made a risky, length of the court pass to his teammate, and wide receiver, Joey Boyle ,which was intercepted. In the blink of an eye, Jefferson had possession of the ball with eight seconds to go, and a chance to win the game.
Barnes dribbled the ball the length of the court with purpose, but the Rebel defense surrounded him, determined not to let him beat them one more time. Barnes appeared poised to launch another off-balance three pointer, but he lost his footing and was called for a travel with seven tenths of a second remaining in his high school career. Fairfax had escaped with a 62-60 first round playoff win, and it was time, finally, for the Rebel faithful to celebrate in earnest.
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“Daniel made an unbelievable shot over the two defenders, fading away, he just flung it and it went in, it was a heroic effort from him indeed,” said first-year coach and Jefferson alumni, Mark Gray-Mendes after the game. “And then to get the turnover and have a chance to win it on the last possession, that’s all you can ask for as a coach. It just didn’t quite happen for us.”
The two teams split the regular-season series, with each side winning on their home court, but it was the visitors from Jefferson who controlled the tempo, and the scoreboard early on, building a 20-10 lead and inspiring their fans to out-chant and out-cheer the home crowd. The Colonials’ full-court press created problems for Fairfax, but Boyle helped his team claw its way back in the game by creating turnovers, finding open teammates and knocking down jump shots.
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With less than a minute to play in the half, Boyle hit a 3-pointer to give Fairfax its first lead, 31-28, and suddenly the home crowd began to assert itself.
The Rebels built an early seven-point lead in the second half, but Jefferson fought back, behind tenacious play from Barnes, and sophomore guard Marcus Prater, who banked in a layup to put his team back ahead 42-41 late in the third period. The lead changed hands three more times in a seesaw affair, until Fairfax sophomore guard John Robic hit a 3-pointer to give his team a 58-57 lead with 2:30 left to play.
After a defensive stop, Fairfax managed to dribble away 1:30, until senior forward Aaron Ware (12 points), who had a huge game at both ends of the court, hit a layup to put his team up by three with less than a minute to play. Ware then somehow managed to recover the ball after a mad scramble that ensued after Jefferson’s Burke Deutsch missed a free throw. He was fouled and missed the free throw, but Boyle came up with a huge steal with just 21 seconds remaining, and Robic was immediately fouled.
Robic had just one thing on his mind as he stepped to the line, his team up by three, the crowd in a frenzy.
“Don’t miss,” he said. “I was just thinking, 'Please just don’t miss.'”
He didn’t, coolly sinking both shots before his team managed to survive the late scare mounted by Barnes and the Colonials.
After the game, Gray-Mendes expressed pride in the effort his players put forth, particularly in light of the fact that the team was without its leading scorer, Richard Kuzma, who attempted to practice before the game, but wasn’t fit enough to play.
“These guys, the things we’ve accomplished this year have been unbelievable, in terms of what everyone expected of us at the beginning of the season,” he said. “It’s tough to accept a loss like this, but when you step back and look at your season, I don’t think you can be anything but tremendously proud of what these guys and especially the seniors accomplished.”