SHELBY — Junior Grant Hiatt was an unlikely hero and the Shelby basketball team an unlikely winner on Satuday night.
Alas, both parties fit those respective adjectives after the 5-foot-8 Hiatt grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a game-winning reverse layup at the buzzer to push the Whippets to a stunning, 63-61 victory over Ontario before a raucious near-capacity crowd.
Hiatt’s put-back came off an airball by teammate T.J. Pugh. The ball fell to Hiatt, who took a quick dribble under the goal and tossed up a reverse layup that bounced at least three times on the rim before falling through the hoop at the horn.
“I tried to put myself in a good position,” Hiatt said. “I just took a dribble out to get into position to do something with it, just tried to get it up there.”
Hiatt had just five points, but was part of a gutsy team effort that overcame a 50-31 deficit midway through the third period.
“When we were down 19, all I was asking was for them to come out and fight their butts off to make it respectable,” Shelby coach Nathon Loney said. “I knew it was going to take a heck of a comeback, especially against a team coached by Joe Balogh. He is one of the greatest coaches in the state.
“We knew we were going to have to be perfect and we were pretty damn good in the second half.”
The rally gives Shelby (10-1 overall, 7-0 in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference) a two-game lead over the Warriors (7-3, 5-2) in league action.
“We fought together as a unit, played our hearts out, played as hard as we could and we got the job done,” Loney said. “It is amazing. But it puts us up two games in the league and that is the most important thing. It was a great team win.”
It seemed an improbable scenario for almost the entire contest. Ontario scored the first seven points and opened a 19-7 first-quarter lead. The margin grew to 39-25 at the half.
A big reason for the Warriors’ advantage was the play of guard Griffin Shaver. The junior standout erupted for 20 of his game-high 24 points in the first half.
But Shelby’s defense, spearheaded by senior Grant Gossom, swarmed Shaver in the second half. Offensively, the Whippets started chipping away, too — closing to within 55-44 heading to the final period.
“We just didn’t do a very good job getting the ball back to (Shaver),” Balogh said. “We did not take care of the ball. The decision-making was terrible in the fourth quarter.
“Their kids continued to fight, but we panicked.”
Ontario managed just six points in the final period. Meanwhile, Shelby’s Jonny DeVito picked up a steal and his ensuing layup gave the Whippets a 61-59 edge at the 2:49 mark.
At the other end, Shaver got loose for a nifty reverse layup to tie it with less than two minutes remaining. But from that point, the Whippets held it for a final shot.
After a timeout, Pugh (who finished with 21 points) took an awkward trey that had no chance. But Hiatt was there to pick him up — and was immediately swarmed to the floor by teammates, coaches and fans in an impromptu dogpile.
“There was a lot of yelling and screaming, it was hot and sweaty under there, but it was a lot of fun,” Hiatt said.
Junior Cody Lantz also had 21 points for Shelby, and Gossum chipped in nine.
Shaquan Coburn contributed 13 points for Ontario, and Kolten Kurtz had nine.
Ontario is at Highland on Tuesday. Shelby is at Pleasant on Friday.
