Deja Vu

March 7, 1996, Pershing Auditorium, Class C1 State Tournament, fourth quarter, seven seconds remaining:  Mike Simons pushed the ball up the court, crossed over to his right and then back to his left, passing his defender as he approached the top of the key.  He avoided a collapsing Scotus defense and came up against the Shamrock’s 6’7” center, Chad Mustard in the middle of the lane.  Simons cradled the ball in his left hand and scooped a shot under Mustard’s outstretched arms, flipping it towards the basket.  It came up short as the buzzer sounded.  For the Wahoo faithful it was a déjà vu moment.  One year earlier, on that same court at Pershing Auditorium, in the same situation, the first round of the state tournament, Wahoo fans had watched Eric Eddie’s desperation three point shot carom off the rim at the buzzer, ending Wahoo’s 1995 season.  But this time was different.  Instead of being one point down, this time the game was tied.  Wahoo would get a second chance.

The opportunity for victory came at the end of the overtime period.  Where Eddie and Simons had come up short, this time it was the third member of Wahoo’s offensive trinity, Josh Anderson, who would take the shot.  Mustard’s free throw with 11 seconds remaining had put Columbus ahead by one.  As the clock ticked down, Anderson executed a crossover move at the top of the key that made the Scotus defender stumble.  Anderson squared up, elevated, and sent his shot towards the basket.  It bounded off the back of the rim … déjà vu all over again.

Coach Mark Watton would later comment, “All I could think about when I saw Josh’s shot go off the rim was that this team didn’t deserve to lose another game like this.”  Deserving or not, the 1996 Warriors had in some ways already been a disappointment.  There were three losses.  Although the 1996 Warriors did win their district, those losses produced a five seed for the state tournament and left them matched with Columbus Scotus in the first round.  Facing the #2 ranked Shamrocks was obviously the toughest opponent Wahoo could have drawn.  As Anderson’s shot floated above the basket only a miracle could keep the mission alive.  It appeared that the 1996 team epitaph would read, “They weren’t even as good.”

But Wahoo was no stranger to basketball miracles.  It wasn’t quite over.  “The tip” would become part of the Wahoo legend.