Scott sinks Broncos' senior night game winner
Feb. 21—DALEVILLE — For a period of about one minute, Daleville's Dylan Scott had his senior night moment taken away.
As fate would have it, the Broncos senior guard got a second chance.
Moments after his go-ahead basket with 9.4 seconds left was wiped away by a timeout from his team's bench, Scott found the ball in his hands again — this time by accident — and drilled a 15-foot jumper with 5.8 seconds remaining to lift Daleville to a 51-50 victory to close out its home season on Paul Garrison Court.
"I really wanted to be put in that position. They got me the ball, and I was able to finish it," Scott said.
The closing moments were made possible when Daleville's Meryck Adams pulled the Broncos with a point at 48-47 with a 3-point basket and Carson Buck put Daleville on top 49-48 with 27.5 seconds left at 49-48 on a basket in the lane.
But the Tigers stormed back, and Michael Martin regained the lead for Alexandria (8-14) at the 16-second mark on a drive to the basket.
Then Scott drove the baseline and laid in the go-ahead basket, but Daleville coach Ashley Fouch had called timeout from the bench.
"I bit my tongue when he hit that layup, but I had called timeout," she said. "I was praying, 'Lord Jesus, please, just do it again.' And then he does. That's just a big-time shot by Dylan Scott. He is big-time. He got two big-time shots tonight."
On the inbounds play, Scott flashed open, took a dribble to his right, hit the shot from the lane and was fouled.
Scott said the play was not designed for him.
"We messed it up. That was not the play we were supposed to go to," he said. "I just said 'Screw it. I've got to get open.'"
The game was not over as, with 5.8 seconds left, Scott missed the free throw, giving Alexandria one last chance. But sophomore Noah Colvin sprinted down court and stripped the ball near the basket to preserve the senior night win for Scott, Dylan Romine, Buck, Zion Bricker and Joel Reyes.
"The contributions of all my seniors are different, and I had two who did not get on the floor tonight," Fouch said. "But if you look down my bench, you'd see all they want to do is win. I think that's one thing this senior group has owned is knowing their roles."
Alexandria roared out to its biggest lead of the game at 17-5 in the first quarter on an Owen Harpe 3-pointer and led 19-11 after the first quarter.
But the Broncos responded with a 15-0 second-quarter run to take a 26-24 lead on a Buck drive. Carson Cuneo scored the last two baskets of the half in transition to give Alex a 30-26 halftime lead.
Daleville (9-11) was led by Buck with 19 points, Scott's 12 and 11 from Adams.
The Tigers were led by 14 points from Harpe, while Cuneo scored 12 points and Gabe McGuire added 10 points off the bench.
The Broncos will close out their regular season Thursday at Eastbrook while the Tigers finish with a Friday home clash against Taylor.
In next week's sectional play, Alexandria will meet Lapel on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Monroe Central. Daleville drew a bye into the Sectional 55 semifinals at Tri-Central and will play the winner of Tuesday's game between Anderson Prep and the host Trojans on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Alexandria held on for a 42-41 win over Daleville in the junior varsity contest. Jon Aiman paced the Tigers with 11 points while Adrian Smith scored 14 for the Broncos to lead all players.
Contact Rob Hunt at rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.
