Gig Chalker beat the buzzer, and Highlands beat Robbinsville in stunning fashion on Wednesday night.
Chalker’s jump shot as time expired helped the Highlanders to a 60-58 victory and capped a wild final two minutes of what was a back-and-forth game throughout.
“We have been trying to get Gig going a little bit and tonight he really stepped up for us,” Highlands head coach Brett Lamb said. “Obviously, the last basket was huge, but he was a force all game long. We needed a win tonight as a team.”
Both teams started out at a deliberate pace, which led to efficient possessions. Robbinsville led 16-14 after the first quarter and the Black Knights extended their advantage to 31-27 at halftime.
The second half started with more basket trading before Highlands’ Reid Carrier hit a driving layup to give the home team a 40-39 lead in the late stages of the quarter. Robbinsville promptly answered with a 9-3 run to regain the advantage and set up the thrilling final moments.
With just over a minute and a half to play, Highlands’ Dillon Schmitt knocked down a pair of crucial free throws to cut Robbinsville’s lead to 53-52. After a failed Black Knights possession, Carrier put Highlands ahead with a short jump shot but Robbinsville forward Chris Wright answered with 53 seconds remaining and staked the visitors to a 55-54 lead.
Robbinsville added a free throw to make the score 56-54 before Ethan Tate found Chalker under the basket for another game-tying bucket with 30 seconds left. Highlands got a steal on the ensuing possession and Carrier drew a foul. His two successful shots put Highlands up 58-56 with just 12 seconds remaining.
Robbinsville’s Brock Adams grabbed the inbounds pass, raced the length of the court and sank a contested layup to tie it at 58-58 with under five seconds to play.
Tate grabbed the ball and found Brent Sleight on the inbounds, who hit Carrier near half court. Carrier dribbled across the timeline and hit Chalker with a pass in the left corner. Chalker’s 15-foot jumper came off his hand just before the buzzer and fell through the net as the clock read all zeros.
The Highlands bench erupted in celebration.
“We decided to not call timeout when Robbinsville tied it the last time, figuring that the worst thing that could happen was we’d go to overtime,” Lamb said. “When Reid got the ball near half court everyone assumed he was going to get a shot off, but to his credit he looked up and found an open teammate and Gig made a big bucket for us.”
Carrier, the Highlanders’ leading scorer, led the home team with 24 points despite the rare occurrence of not hitting a 3-point shot in the game. Chalker added 18 points and Schmitt chipped in seven.
“Over the last few games we have been seeing some junk defenses on Reid and he is having to adjust,” Lamb said. “Tonight he was scoring by going to the basket and being aggressive, and he was able to penetrate and find open teammates on several possessions.”
Landyn Hall led Robbinsville with 11 points. Seth Lawson added 10 and Wright finished with nine in the loss.
On Friday, Highlands fell short against Hiwassee Dam, losing on the road, 57-51. Carrier continued putting up the high-game score, pouring in 24 points in the loss. Dillon Schmitt chipped in seven points and Bill Miller six, to pace the Highlanders.
Lamb said his team fell behind early and couldn’t recover.
“We got down 14-4 end of first , 27-18 at half, 37-35 end of the third quarter,” he said. “We battled back in the second half and took the lead late but couldn’t hold on.”
Hiwassee Dam tightened its grip on first place in the Little Smoky Mountain Conference standings, improving to 4-0 with the win. The Highlanders fell to 1-2 in the LSMC going into Tuesday’s game with Blue Ridge.
Lamb also had high praise for his JV boys team, who won the regular season LSMC JV championship with a 43-40 win. Nathan Keener led the way with 15 points. Lawson Shuler added 10, J.J. Postell and Trevor Reese each chipped in 7 points.
The JV boys made some great in game adjustments to an offense they had never ran and were affective out of it,” he said. “We got some timely defensive stops and rebounds to pull out a big win.”
Robbinsville 34, Highlands 31
A late Highlands rally fell just short as Robbinsville escaped with a 34-31 victory in girls’ basketball action.
Highlands got three first-half 3-pointers from Jordan Carrier and built a 16-13 lead at the intermission, but Robbinsville flipped the script in the third quarter by outscoring the home team 15-7 in the frame.
Highlands cut the deficit to 32-31 with 90 second on the clock when Julia May Schmitt buried a driving layup. Robbinsville’s Cambrie Levin sank a pair of clutch free throws to give the Black Knights a 34-31 lead with 24 second left in the game.
After crossing half court Highlands called timeout to set up a final play. Carrier caught ball in the corner for a potential game-tying three, but her shot was blocked as time expired.
Carrier led Highlands with 16 points. Hayley Borino added seven and Schmitt finished with six. Kedra McCall rounded out the scoring with two points.
Levin and Haylee Anderson each notched 10 points for the visitors.
The Lady Highlanders improved their LSMC record to 3-0 with a 57-39 win over Hiwassee Dam on Friday.
Page called the win an overall team effort.
“The girls played a great game, he said. “It was a great TEAM win. We moved the ball around real well on the offensive end and really played good defense. I’m very proud of my team.”
Borino and Carrier paced the Highlands offense with 15 points each. McCall followed with 13 points in the win.