Scoring the winning, buzzer-beating shot, senior Andrew Daniels propels the team to win Districts, beating Westfield 60-56.
The clock on the scoreboard counts down the final seconds as the team and the fans strain with anticipation for a moment that will make history. The clock buzzes, and as quickly as it started, the game is over, but the season hadn’t ended for the Cougars.
“We always knew we had the talent,” said captain Andrew Daniels, senior. “We expected to do well, but I still couldn’t imagine it. [Scoring the game winning shot] was awesome.”
A series of new coaches over the years offered the team little stability as they sought to make themselves known.
“It’s only been eight months since we’ve all been together,” said coach David Brooks. “The room we have for improvement is just exponential. My thought when [Daniels made the final shot at] 1.7 seconds was that we needed to get back to defense because something bad could happen. When the clock hit zero for the third time, it was just sheer elation. I was just so proud.”
On the court the boys found themselves
dribbling and scoring with a new outlook on their ability to compete and work as a team.
“We had confidence,” Daniels said. “ A new coach helped us to bring out that new attitude. We couldn’t have asked for a better team.”
Motivated by victory and by each other, the boys found themselves in the final stages of the district tournament, and then,on their home court in the regional semifinals, the last game of their season.
“It’s the craziest feeling,” senior Nick Koutris said. “Last year we only won one game in [the district tournament], and this year we won the whole thing.”
With a team that has advanced so far in the past season, the game has only just begun.
“At the beginning of the year when we would face adversity we would doubt ourselves,” Brooks said. “As the year progressed we started to rely on each other and looked to be aggressive rather than timid and intimidated. I try to make the boys realize that they’re playing for something bigger than themselves.”
by Daphne Martschenko and Callum Kelton
