The Escalante Lobos won on a miracle shot at the buzzer in a game against Santa Fe Prep Jan. 17 in Santa Fe.
With 2.5 seconds left on the clock, Lobo J.T. Elwess hit a 45-foot three-pointer to give Escalante a 53-51 victory.
“I kinda knew it was going to go in once I released the shot,” Elwess said. “Once it went in, I thought this is crazy — we won.”
Elwess’ shot saved the Lobos from a tough loss. They had tied the game with 40 seconds left on a free throw by Carlos Casados. Tim Enfield put Santa Fe Prep in the lead with about three seconds left after he was fouled and made the first free throw but missed the second, putting the Griffins up 51-50. The Lobos rebounded the miss and called for a timeout with 2.5 seconds left to play.
“Coming out of the time-out, we planned to give the ball to (Elwess) or (Devin Montoya),” Escalante coach Milnor Manzanares said. “Thank God one of them got the ball, and it went in.”
The buzzer went off just as Elwess’ long shot bounced off the backboard and into the net.
Letdown
To start the game both teams struggled with turnovers and ended the first quarter with eight each. The Lobos missed nine shots yet managed to hold a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
During the second quarter, both teams started to heat up. The Lobos scored 21 points, while the Griffins scored 16 points. Lobos held the lead at the end of the second quarter 32-25.
The Griffins came out in the third quarter in a man-to-man defense which held the Lobo offense to only four points. Joel Van Essen scored 12 points of the Griffins’ 15 points in the third quarter to help his team grab a 40-36 lead.
“When we played Santa Fe Prep earlier in the season, they pretty much dominated the first half and were up by 13 in the half,” Manzanares said in reference to the Lobos’ four-point win over Santa Fe Prep Jan. 3 in Tierra Amarilla. “We were still down going into the fourth quarter and then we stepped up the defense and managed to win the game.”
Montoya nailed a three-point shot from the side to start the fourth quarter. But Van Essen answered with his own three-pointer from the top. Then the Lobos’ Justin Atencio made three points to tie the game 45-45 with 4:06 left in the game.
Santa Fe Prep, down 49-47, called a time-out with 1:13 left in the game.
Out of the timeout, Van Essen drove and was fouled; the bucket plus the free throw put Prep up 50-49. Van Essen scored 30 points for the Griffins.
“It was a tough loss,” Van Essen said. “If we would have played the first half like we played the second half, we would have won by quite a bit.”
Elwess led the Lobos with 16 points. Devin Montoya had 13 points and Eric Belser added 11 for Escalante.
The Lobos’ next scheduled game is Saturday at Questa.