By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Terry Nowden is proud of his African-American heritage, but for a few seconds Wednesday night the Gates-Chili boys’ basketball coach traded nationalities.
With the shot clock winding down and score tied late in the fourth quarter, Spartan Keith Slack delivered with an overhead heave from 28 feet that glanced off the window before finding the net. The junior guard probably won’t include his second 3-pointer of the night in his already overflowing duffle bag of highlights. It doesn’t matter. The basket goes in the scorebook just the same.
“He shot it like a soccer throw-in,” a smiling Nowden commented after Gates-Chili’s 64-60 victory over the UPrep Griffins. “I said to our trainer ‘I’m not Irish, but I believe in luck.'”
Slack’s three with less than two minutes remaining on the game clock gave Gates-Chili its first lead of the fourth quarter at 58-55 lead. They did not trail again.
“I knew it was going long because I shot it kinda hard,” said Slack who finished with a game-high 29 points. “I knew it was about to go in, though. I knew it was going to fall.”
Three possessions later, Slack converted a pair of one-and-one free throws. The first of which proved to be the game winner. It was a fitting bookend for the Spartans leading scorer who earlier in the night connected from the charity stripe for his 1,000th career point.
In between, the 5-foot-9 guard dazzled, as he has all season, with his full offensive arsenal on display.
From last night: Keith Slack bringing the JELLY. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/tQkrNc1GlT
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 1, 2018
“I go out there and see what’s open and take what the defense gives me,” Slack stated. “Basketball is really a natural sport. It takes smarts to play basketball. But when I play, I don’t think too much. If you think, then you’re going to mess up.”
Slack scored 16 in the first half to help the Spartans to a 39-36 edge going into the locker room. He saved his best for last, though, tallying nine straight in the final four minutes of the game.
Keith Slack connects on his second of three free throws for career point No. 1,000. @GCSpartan_Hoops pic.twitter.com/WlrBVYajsb
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 1, 2018
Trailing 55-53, Slack weaved his way through a pair of defenders before connecting on a pull-up jumper just inside the free throw line. He followed with the banked three and then another stop and pop jumper from 15 feet. He closed the spree with the game winner from the stripe.
“He’s relentless,” UPrep coach James Reaves said of the Spartans leading scorer. “He can score at will. He makes the tough shots. You look at his size and think he can’t score, but he can flat out score. He’s a special kid and he deserves respect.”
In a game containing six lead changes and 11 ties, neither team led by more than seven points and the game was played within four points for the last 15 minutes.
“That was a full-round straight up heavyweight fight,” Nowden said. “UPrep is just tough. They’re gritty. They grind. They hustle all over the place. We haven’t seen anybody like that yet.”
The win was the fifth straight for Gates-Chili (11-5) with the last four victories coming against Class AA schools.
“It shows that we got toughness in us,” Nowden added. “Something that we haven’t had before. I keep telling them ‘you have to grind certain games out. You have to feel it out. See how the atmosphere is. See how the refs are calling games.’ Once you feel it out, get comfortable and go. I told them it was going to be a physical game all night long.”
For Nowden, the win wasn’t as much about Xs and Os as it was his team’s ability to stay the course during the battle.
“They want to speed you up,” Nowden said of UPrep. “They want you to take those shots early in the shot clock. They want you to take those shots so they can get the rebound and run. It was a few timeouts that I had to burn and kept repeating it: composure, take our time. We’re up be patient, run your sets.”
The loss was the second in as many nights for UPrep (9-9).
“Every game we’ve played this year has been sectional-like play,” said Reaves whose team fell to Bishop Kearney Tuesday night, 55-53. “It hurts to lose, but it fuels the tank when you get that feeling. We got to start executing and winning some of these games, but there’s a lesson in all of them.
Slack hit a pull-up jumper to give Gates its largest lead of the night at 18-11.
UPrep responded with a 9-3 run, and Jakhi Lucas closed the first quarter with a 3-pointer to tie the score at 23. Lucas gave the Griffins their only lead of the first half with a bucket in the lane for a 27-25 edge.
Two Damon Payton 3-pointers late in the second quarter gave G-C a 37-31 lead.
Again, the Griffins responded. Keyshawn Ross had a tap-in. Ross followed with a Euro step for a layup from the left wing and one of two free throw to make it 39-36 game in favor of Gates going into the break.
A Zack Scott free throw line jumper gave UPrep a 45-43 edge late in the third quarter. Lucas scored on a drive for a 55-53 UPrep edge late in the fourth. Lucas drilled a a 3-pointer from the top of the key off a UCLA cut to tie the game at 58.
Zack. Scott. Hurt. Harm. 7:43 to go @GCSpartan_Hoops 49 UPrep 49 pic.twitter.com/7fN2nEmkcz
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 1, 2018
Slack’s 29 points gives him 1,025 for his career. He added six assists. Payton collected 12 points and four steals. Thomas Jones III had eight points and nine rebounds for the Spartans.
Lucas paced UPrep with 27 points. Scott added 10. Ross had nine and Elroy Clark, who struggled with flu-like symptoms, had seven points.
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