The Shot of the Year
Some fun stuff has been happening of late in the Adel-DeSoto-Minburn gym; and though Tajen Ross’ high-flying jams have been great, Tuesday night’s heroics by Sam McCartney and Jared Sapp may have been the play of the year in Iowa.
Winterset’s Justin Henry was fouled on a jump-shot with three seconds left, and hit both free-throws to give the Huskies a two-point lead over the Tigers.
And then this happened.
https://twitter.com/Langer_Banger17/status/824094588264730625
Sapp — a senior guard who was playing in just his second game back after an injury — told PHIA that the shot felt good right from his fingertips.
“When he (Winterset’s Harrison Brockway) picked it off, I kind of held my breath. And I was just going to let it go out of bounds because we had no one else back, so if I would have gone to save it, it would have been their ball no matter what,” said Sapp. “But he threw it right back to me, and as soon as I turned around I just shot it. It felt good coming off my hand, but then it hit the rim and I kind of had a heart attack there.”
“The next thing I know, everyone is storming the court and piling on me, pushing me up against the wall.”
ADM senior golfer Lindsey Lange shot the epic video, and was right there for all the finer moments; the shot, the wall-to-wall celebration, and the culminating hoist of Sapp.
“I talked to her about it and she said that at 17 seconds she just felt like something was going to happen,” said Sapp. “So she had her phone out, and she was able to catch all that on tape. And then she just followed the mob around.”
It wasn’t just the shot that made the moment great, but the celebration is just as fun to watch (over and over again).
It’s very rare that a person gets a chance to be hauled around, a hero, on the shoulders of friends and teammates.
“It was just a crazy experience,” said Sapp. “I just remember a couple of my teammates and a couple of the guys in the stands just started hoisting me up.”
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Remember when Wes Washpun hit that shot against Evansville at the buzzer, and Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley Tournament because of it. Sapp’s shot was similar — off back-iron, high into the air, then straight down and in.
“I remember seeing it (Washpun shot). I can’t remember the whole thing, but it sounds pretty similar,” said Sapp.
And for further viewing pleasure: Here are three of the aforementioned Tajen Ross jams that have occurred this season in ADM’s gym of fun.
Check out how Tajen Ross takes off! 🚀 @tajen_ross pic.twitter.com/MVnC9QeUwC
— Overtime (@overtime) January 17, 2017
— Justean Allen (@justean24) December 14, 2016
— Tajen Ross (@tajen_ross) December 11, 2016