Jacks top Tigers at buzzer
Quincy senior Ian Dearie (25) reaches to save a loose ball from falling out of bounds during the second quarter of the Jacks' 39-37 win over Ephrata. Photo by Miles Douglass/Columbia Basin Herald
EPHRATA —The Quincy Jacks traveled across the Columbia Basin Tuesday night to take on Central Washington Athletic Conference boys basketball rival Ephrata.
The Jacks and Tigers fought through tough defenses to push the game to the wire.
Despite playing on the road, the Jacks snuck away from the Tigers with a buzzer-beating 39-37 win.
The Tigers worked to control the game in the first quarter, taking a 12-8 lead in the confines of the Ephrata gym.
Quincy senior guard Daniel Guzman tied the game at 16-16 midway through the second quarter before the Tigers regained the lead at 24-20 heading into the locker room.
Ephrata controlled the scoreboard to start the second half and the Tigers stalked the Jacks, but couldn’t put them away.
Quincy fought hard down the stretch, keeping the Tigers in their sights until an opportunity arose late in the fourth quarter.
With the game tied at 37-37, Quincy senior forward Eric Martin took an inside pass from under the boards and raced up the court with time ticking toward overtime.
With time expiring, he scored the game-winning basket as the buzzer sounded. Martin’s buzzer-beater give Quincy the victory and bragging rights heading into the district tournament.
Martin led the Jacks with 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the process.
Ephrata head coach Brandon Evenson tried to get his Tigers to foul Martin.
“I wanted the kids to foul, they couldn’t hear me,” he said.
Martin said he was waiting for a foul that never came.
“I (thought) they would do it,” he said. “It would have been the smart thing to do.”