The Galena boys' basketball team, probably more than any other team in the Northern 4A, is known for its ability to run the delay offense.
So when the Grizzlies switched into a halfcourt delay with a three-point lead and 3:17 left on the clock Tuesday night, things didn't look great for the Douglas Tigers.
When Galena's Nate Hosmer capitalized on the delay set with a 3-pointer from the left side to put the Grizzlies up six AT 55-49 with just under two minutes left, it looked as though the game was as good as out of reach.
Someone forgot to tell the Tigers.
Douglas' Brett Anderson drained a fadeaway jumper just outside the elbow with 1.4 seconds left in the game complete a 9-1 run and give the Tigers a 58-56 win over the Grizzlies in Minden.
The Tigers benefitted from two plays that were as extraordinary as they were rare down the stretch to stage the comeback.
The first came after Jorey Scott hit a layup with 1:48 left to cut the score to 55-51. Galena settled into the delay and made a looping pass from the right corner toward the halfcourt line.
The Tigers didn't have the rotation on the pass, but Austin Neddenriep was stationed on the 3-point line and made a late break on the ball. He broke up the pass and gathered it in, taking it down for a breakaway layup to cut the score to 55-53 with 1:34 left on the clock.
"We have that exact same offense and we worked on it yesterday as an offense," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "But, our guys got to defend it a little bit and understand what to do.
The tough thing is you can't double team out of that. You just have to be patient and hopefully get a tip or something out of it. The kids came up with some big plays to get the game back within reach."
Douglas forced another turnover and Anderson hit one of his four 3-pointers on the night with a minute left to tie the game. Anderson led all scorers in the game with 18 points, including the game-winning shot and two 3-pointers in the final four minutes.
"Brett is playing defensive and going as hard as he can on that end of the floor, which is opening up his offense," Thacker said. "It's getting him going and he's ready to go when we get the ball. He's getting great looks and he's knocking down some big shots."
Douglas rebounded off a Galena miss with about 50 seconds left and Scott was fouled with 41 seconds left, setting up the second remarkable play.
He missed both free throws, but the second rolls off the rim and got stuck between the hoop and the backboard, which by rule is treated as a jump ball. The possession arrow favored Douglas at the time, so instead of Galena getting the rebound and setting up its delay offense again, the Tigers got the ball on the baseline.
"I haven't seen that situation before," Thacker said. "We were lucky enough to have it go our way. It was a good miss if you can have that."
Galena stole the inbound pass and drove quickly down for a breakaway layup attempt, but it missed and Douglas gathered up the rebound. After a timeout, Douglas rode the clock down from 18 seconds before Anderson drove inside from the right half of the court and made his game-winner.
Galena had a final shot from halfcourt which sailed just wide of the rim. The game was a far cry from the first meeting between the two schools when Douglas won by 30 points in Reno.
The lead changed hands six times and neither team was able to build a lead bigger than eight points.
"When it comes to playoff atmosphere, it's something you're going to be dealing with the entire second half of the season in this league," Thacker said. "You have to bring it everything night, because teams know you really well. They've seen you once already and there's a ton of film out there on you, so you really have to get after it."
Neddenriep had 13 points for the Tigers, Scott and Garrett Getty each had six, Matt Thomas had four, Chris Downs and Luis Pina-Duarte each had three, Theo Denson and Hunter Myers each had two and Nick Maestretti had one.
Former Tiger CJ Marcotte led Galena with 15 points while Alex Hansen had 12 points.
