RINGGOLD, Ga. -- For 31 minutes and 47 seconds of Wednesday night's GHSA Class AAAA boys' first-round playoff game, the Heritage Generals did most everything right. It took just two seconds to undo all that good work.
Heritage led Monroe Area by five with 2:05 to go and by three with 26 seconds left but gave up what in essence was a four-point play to lose, 60-59.
A Noah Hill free throw made it 59-56 when Monroe's Emory Shoats went up for a potential tying 3-pointer. The shot was well short, but Shoats was fouled on his follow through and went to the line for three free throws. After calmly hitting the first two with 13 seconds to play, Heritage coach Kevin Terry called timeout in an attempt to ice Shoats and set his team up for a quick answer if needed.
The ploy worked as Shoats' shot was short, but when the ball took an extra bounce off the left side of the rim, Monroe star Marquez Williams pounced on the rebound and laid it in for a shocking one-point lead. Heritage point guard Jaylon Gaines, after a timeout, stormed down court and found sharpshooter Hunter Erickson surprisingly alone on the left wing.
The junior's shot, though, was just long, but the rebound was kicked out to Gaines, who let fly another would-be winner, only to have it bounce off as the buzzer sounded.
"We kind of did things the way we wanted to, though we would like to take away fouling a 3-point shooter and giving up a rebound on a free throw," Terry said, trying to find the right words. "We felt we had something going on there by attacking them and getting the lead. We just couldn't hold on there at the end."
Heritage, completing its most successful season at 24-5, held an early nine-point lead, but led by Williams, who finished with a game-high 21 points, the Hurricanes (18-11) roared back to take a 32-30 halftime lead. That lead would grow to 36-30 early in the second, but the Generals answered with a 7-0 run to re-take the lead.
The visitors went up 51-46 on Deaunte Simon's putback two minutes into the final period, but Heritage again rallied, this time using a 10-0 run sparked by Gaines' relentless penetration to take a 56-51 lead with 2:05 left. Shoats, though, hit a 3-pointer from the corner to cut it to two, but Gaines answered with a drive for a four-point lead with 40 seconds to play to set up the final thrilling half minute.
Hurting the Heritage was an 8-for-15 night at the free-throw line, including three misses in the final two minutes.
"We missed a couple of big free throws down the stretch," Terry said. "I told the guys at halftime that the margin of error here is very small. If we turn the ball over they're going to score, if we give up an offensive rebound they're going to score."
Terry, after watching Gaines' final shot go just long, extolled his team's hard play in defeat.
"They just made a couple of plays to take it away from us," he said. "A free throw or two or a rebound and we win. Everything happened so fast; we lost it in a matter of seconds. It's hard to even process it right now. I know one thing; the guys fought like heck tonight, and I'm proud of them."
Gaines led the balanced Generals with 14 points, with Erickson, Cole Wilcox and Dylan Bice each adding 10.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.