Rogers Heritage rallied from a nine-point deficit after three quarters to knock off the defending Class 5A state champions in Oklahoma on Saturday night and claim a signature win for its young basketball program.
Crist Olsen hit a 17-foot jumper from the left side with 1.1 seconds left to give the War Eagles a 51-50 win over Bishop McGuinness in Oklahoma City.
The 6-foot junior took a feed from teammate Xavier Thomas, who drove down the left side near the block and kicked out to Olsen. He took a dribble and drilled the jumper for Heritage’s first lead since early in the third quarter.
The Fighting Irish took a timeout with a second left and threw a long pass the length of the court, but Heritage intercepted the pass as time ran out.
Heritage improved to 9-3 and notched its third win of the season by making a shot in waning seconds. But Saturday’s win was huge, coming against a program which has won nine state titles, Heritage coach Tom Olsen said.
“They have a lot of tradition,” he said. “They are a quality program with lots of history and multiple state championships. It’s arguably the biggest win Heritage basketball has ever had.”
Leading 50-49, Bishop McGuinness (5-2) missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left to give Heritage a chance. The War Eagles tried to get a shot in transition, but called a timeout with 6.6 seconds remaining to set up the final sequence and Olsen’s game winner.
Heritage led 30-26 at halftime, but was outscored 18-5 in the third quarter and trailed 44-35 heading the fourth quarter.
“Our guys stayed the course and weathered the storm in the third quarter,” Olsen said. “They had a big kid about 6-7 or 6-8 who scored 12 points in the quarter. We just couldn’t move him away the basket.
“But we ground it out and got to five with three minutes and down to three with about two minutes to go. They just hung in and did the things we needed to do to give us a chance and make the big shot.”
Wyatt Kinnamon led Heritage with 13 points, including three 3-pointers all in the first half. Luke Fryauf added 10, while Olsen and Hayden Greenway had eight a piece.