Johnson triple with 14.1 seconds left propels Union City to District win over White Pigeon
BRONSON — It’s simply amazing how history often repeats itself, much like it did Monday night at Bronson High School as the Union City Chargers faced off with the White Pigeon Chiefs in the first round of the MHSAA District tournament. Much like the Union City Lady Chargers win over White Pigeon last week in their D3 District tournament, the Union City Charger boys basketball team used some late game heroics to get past the Chiefs in exciting fashion.
Senior guard Kyle Johnson exploded for 30 points and drained a three pointer with just 14.1 seconds left to break a 56-56 tie, giving his Chargers the dramatic 59-56 win over the White Pigeon Chiefs in the first round of the MHSAA Division Three District 80 tournament.
“We knew we had to out run White Pigeon tonight, they are a big and physical team as anyone that saw the game tonight can attest to,” said Union City head coach Ben Chard. “We just had to out hustle them tonight which was tough with their big man (Chris) Jackson down low who is just a superb player. We really ran through our whole team tonight so I am very proud of our reserves who came through big for us, helping maintain the lead and even picking up some points tonight. Things for us are not over just yet.”
Union City started the game out quick with a triple right off the bat from Johnson, taking the early lead. White Pigeon answered right back with big man Chris Jackson who bullied his way to the glass for two, closing the score to 3-2 early. Union City showed range in the first quarter as three first quarter triples, one each from Johnson, Landon Galvin and Alex Hull, gave the Chargers the early 9-4 lead with 3:30 left in quarter. After pushing their lead to 11-4 after a Galvin bucket, White Pigeon managed to close out the quarter with a clutch 7-0 run over the final two minutes of the quarter, sending the game to the second quarter all tied up at 11-11.
Union City came rushing out of the gate in the second quarter much like they did in the first. Using clutch plays from senior Caden Marshall and junior Alex Hull the Chargers managed to build a 18-13 lead early. White Pigeon responded, thanks in large part to a big foul discrepancy that allowed the Chiefs to get to the free throw line early. White Pigeon rattled off a 9-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to take the lead at 22-18 with just under five minutes to go in the half. Union City finally broke the run on a tough inside bucket from Wade Hoffman, closing the score to 22-20 at the four minute mark of the quarter.
White Pigeon buckled down and continued to control the paint as Union City had all sorts of trouble stopping Jackson and the Chiefs attack down low. White Pigeon managed to build a 26-20 lead with just under three minutes to go in the half, leading to a Charger timeout.
A huge sequence of events took place just before the two minute mark of the quarter, a series of plays that changed the complexion of the game as a whole. With roughly 2:30 left in the half Union City senior Kyle Johnson pulled up for three and splashed home his second triple of the game. A foul was called on a White Pigeon player during the shot and the officials counted the bucket while also giving Union City possession of the ball because of the foul. On the ensuing possession Johnson drained yet another three pointer to complete a six point turnaround, tying up the game at 26-26 with two minutes left in the quarter. After a Charger defensive stop on the next trip down, Johnson snapped home his fourth three pointer of the game as the senior was on absolute fire, giving Union City the 29-26 lead with 1:30 left in the half. A pair of free throws from Johnson and a bucket from White Pigeon in the closing seconds of the half pushed the score to 31-28 in favor of Union City at the half.
The Chargers again came storming out of the gate to begin the new quarter, pushing their lead to 36-30 after a 5-2 run over the first three minutes of play in the third.
White Pigeon responded with a three pointer, which in turn saw Union City respond with a layup from Hull off of a beautiful bounce pass from Marshall, finding the score of 38-33 with four minutes left in the quarter.
White Pigeon once again rallied the troops and embarked on a modest 6-0 run over the next few minutes, capping the run off with a steal and bucket in transition, tying the score up at 41-41 with only a minute left in the quarter. The Chiefs finished off the third quarter with a quick 4-0 spurt, giving White Pigeon a 45-41 lead after three quarters of play.
The scoring slowed down early in the fourth period as both teams played it safe, keeping things mistake free. After each team scored just three points over the first three minutes, leading to a score of 48-44, a Union City timeout led to a big Johnson layup, closing the score to 48-46 with four minutes left in the game. Once again Johnson dialed up long distance after a Charger defensive stop as he splashed home yet another three pointer at the 3:30 mark, giving Union City the lead once again at 49-48.
The teams continued to battle throughout the remaining four minutes of play, with White Pigeon retaking the lead on a pair of free throws from Jackson at 52-51, only to see a 5-0 run from Union City thanks to a Johnson three and a Galvin steal and bucket push the Chargers back to the lead at 56-52 with just over two minutes left, forcing a White Pigeon timeout.
The Chiefs responded out of the break and used the playmaking ability of Jackson to do so, scoring four straight points in the paint to quickly knot the score up at 56-56 with less than a minute to go in the game.
Union City took possession of the ball with less than a minute to go and proceeded to eat away at the clock, eventually calling a timeout with 36.1 seconds left. Out of the break Union City looked to eat away more time before getting the ball into the hands of their senior playmaker. With roughly :25 seconds left Johnson took possession of the ball at the top of the key and dribbled back and forth, looking for an opening. With just 14.1 seconds left Johnson pulled up and buried his eighth three pointer of the game, each one more clutch than the last, giving his team the late 59-56 lead.
After a White Pigeon timeout the Chiefs got a decent look but they could not get anything to fall late as it was Union City taking the dramatic and clutch 59-56 district quarterfinal victory.
Union City was led on the night by senior Kyle Johnson who poured in a season high 30 points, a number that included his 1,000th career point. Johnson in total hit eighth three pointers to pace the Chargers to victory.
“I have been blessed to have some great players in Emmitt Fraley, Jalen Boes, Larson Kever and now Kyle Johnson, and when you have special players like that they all just seem to step up in the biggest moments and that’s what Kyle (Johnson) did tonight,” said Chard. “We are definitely a tournament team, we always pride ourselves on being ready for the tournament and Kyle did not disappoint tonight, he made some big shots and got some big defensive stops for us, not to mention he led our team with his emotions and helped us get a big win.”
Aiding the Union City victory was Alex Hull with eight points; Landon Galvin with seven points; Caden Marshall with five points; Wade Hoffman with four points; Riley Laird with three points; and Ricky Austin with two points.
White Pigeon was led on the night by Chris Jackson with 22 points while teammate Dylan Carper added 15 points. With the loss White Pigeon sees their 2021-22 season come to a close at 12-9 overall.
Union City meanwhile improves to 9-12 overall with the victory and will now move on to the Division Three District 80 semifinals to face off with the top seed in the bracket in the Centreville Bulldogs. Union City will face the 17-3 Bulldogs Wednesday night at Bronson High School beginning at 5:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Johnson triple with 14.1 seconds left propels Union City to District win over White Pigeon
