In a back-and-forth battle of two red-hot TSSAA Division II boys’ basketball programs Friday night in Chattanooga, Baylor needed the final 1:45 to seal a tough 49-44 win at second-ranked Boyd Buchanan.
Evan Haynie had a massive steal late to spring Zane Restelli for a wide-open layup with 1:22 remaining, building a three-point lead for DII-AA’s Baylor. Just seconds before, Restelli had answered a go-ahead 3-pointer by the DII-A Buccaneers’ Caden Johnson with a tough bank shot to regain the lead for the Red Raiders.
Baylor’s Cameron Sparks provided a key block and his 10th rebound of the game with less than a minute to play. Sparks’ miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity at the foul line was snatched high in the air by teammate Brock Barton, whose offensive rebound led to a pair of free throws from Restelli that built the lead to 47-42 with 34 seconds to play.
Nyziah Whaley then sneaked behind the defense to haul in a long heave in bounds from Sparks and added one last basket for the final margin.
“We finished the game really well,” Baylor coach Mark Price said. “Brock comes up with an unbelievable offensive rebound to pick his teammate up. The best thing we did tonight was nobody let our offensive foul trouble stop us from getting after it on the defensive end.