A comfortable six-point lead with less than a minute remaining quickly turned into a frustrating end for the Howard boys’ basketball team Tuesday night.
A furious Maplewood scoring flurry, capped by Jaleel Queary’s buzzer-beating layup, gave the Panthers a 54-53 victory in the championship game of the Henry Bowles holiday tournament at Howard.
Queary scored eight of his 12 points in the final 57 seconds. He worked his way through a crowded lane for a layup that dropped through the net just as the buzzer sounded.
“Coach told me he wanted the ball in my hands in the final two minutes to see if I could help us come back,” Queary said. “That was the plan, to just make something happen.”
Howard went ahead by six with just over two minutes remaining and maintained that advantage until Queary’s three-point play with 57 seconds remaining. That allowed Maplewood to begin pressing Howard, which resulted in consecutive turnovers by Howard, and the Panthers scored four points in a five-second span to tie the game.
Queary was named the tournament most valuable player. With six seconds remaining and Maplewood trailing by two, he made a free throw, missed the second off the back of the rim and grabbed the rebound to set up the final-second heroics.
“We’ve got too many superstars who think they know more than their coaches,” frustrated Howard coach Walter McGary said. “They want to listen to people in the stands who never played the game instead of what I’m telling them, and this is the result.
“Whoever shows up for our next practice will learn a whole lot about teamwork.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.