FeedsRomulus beats Belleville in nail-biter semi final
Your team is down by one point with 4.8 seconds left on the clock. You drive the length of the court and are fouled on a layup as time expires. You stand alone at the free-throw line with hundreds of glaring eyes resting on you. One ties it, two wins it. Miss them both and, well, don’t even think about that. No pressure.
What do you do?
If you’re Romulus’ Dominique Buckley you drain both for the victory.
The junior point guard, who has already verbally committed to Iowa State University, was hailed a hero in a district semifinal at Romulus on Thursday when his two free throws earned the Eagles a 66-65 victory over visiting rival Belleville.
The ending was one of Hollywood proportions. He might as well paint a red “S” on his chest and fly off into the sunset, because it doesn’t get any better or closer.
“I never felt anything like it,” Buckley said of the no-seconds-left win. “I didn’t think it would come down to anything like that. It made it harder being up there alone with the crowd screaming. But I just had to block it all out. This was the biggest game of my life right now. We came together as a team and pulled out a win and we’ll take it.”
Earlier that day Romulus Coach Nate Oats asked Buckley if he was going to make a couple big free throws later like he did in his freshman year. Two years ago Buckley was in a similar situation with the same outcome against Belleville—although there were actually a few seconds left to play.
“He kind of winked at me and said, yeah, he was going to do it,” Oats said. “Then, all of a sudden, five or six hours later he’s at the line shooting two big ones.
“I thought about how many 6 a.m. workouts we put him through and how all of the hard work is going to pay off,” he added about the moments prior to the victory.
The rest of the game was just as exciting. It was aggressive and fast paced as both teams played like they didn’t want to go home.
Both offenses were flying in the first frame. Senior center Devin Searcy was the saving grace for the Eagles, there. He scored eight in the quarter, including a slam dunk to punctuate an 18-7 advantage. Belleville closed the gap to head into the second down, 20-13.
Romulus continued to spread the ball around—five scorers in the first and six in the second—to amass a 35-30 half-time lead.
The Eagles took control of the third quarter, starting with an 8-2 run that included a slam dunk by Searcy. The flurry gave Romulus its biggest margin with 11 points. The Tigers weren’t done yet. They countered with nine unanswered points to narrow the gap, 43-41, ending with a triple by senior Tiger Marius Williams.
It was senior Caral Dial that took matters into his own hands in the final stanza. He scored 16 points in the fourth including the jumper to give Belleville its first lead of the game, 65-64, with 4.8 seconds left. That set the stage for Buckley’s heroics.
“Dial played like a kid that didn’t want to go home; a kid that didn’t want the season to end; gritty; gutsy; determined; heart and soul,” said Belleville Coach Don Hickman. “He just refused to let us lose.”
“It was a typical Romulus-Belleville game where no lead is safe and no situation is safe,” he added. “It was another classic. Considering he was at the free-throw line with no time, I guess it has to be right up there at the top one or two. The kids gave me everything they got like they always have all season. I feel bad it had to end this way.”
Dial led all scorers with 28 for Belleville. Williams added 12 and Hayes 11.
Buckley led the Eagles with 21. Searcy scored 14 and Rod Walker added 11.
“I want to tell (Belleville) that I have the utmost respect for them, playing their hearts out in a game like that,” Oats said. “In their eyes they had somewhat of a down year but they didn’t go out without a fight. I just have to let them know that I got a ton of respect for the kids on their team. They outplayed us down the stretch until Dominique hit two big ones.”
