In the long history of KSHSAA state basketball at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, the best game may have been played there Thursday night.
In the Class 3A boys semifinals, Burlington got a last-second 15-foot jump shot from Troy Over, and the Wildcats beat Hesston 77-76 in triple overtime.
Hesston had to play the final overtime without forward Drew Bartell, who scored 15 points and had fouled out. Ty Unruh later fouled out, and he had 22 points. Still, the Swathers took the lead late with a perfectly executed set play in the final seconds. Down one point with 6.3 seconds left, the Swathers worked the ball to the right elbow to Jerick Humphreys. He turned to the basket and dropped in a picture-perfect pass at the basket to Kason Landes, who scored with 3.7 seconds left.
That set the stage for Over, who caught the inbounds pass near midcourt, drove down the left side, and scored as the buzzer went off.
That was the second buzzer-beater for Burlington. At the end of the second overtime, Shawn Mautz fired a high-arcing 3-pointer near the Burlington bench. The ball hit the side of the rim, bounced up, hit the rim again, and softly fell through the basket, tying the game 70-70.
Unruh was the hero of the first overtime, hitting two free throws with 6.2 seconds left, which tied the game 63-63.
Of the seven periods played, Burlington only won two – the third overtime 7-6, and the third quarter 24-10.
Hesston controlled the first half and led 30-19 at halftime. But the Wildcats dominated the third quarter and led for most of the rest of regulation but couldn’t get enough separation.
Hesston, which fell to 25-3, had won four of the last five 3A titles and will play Silver Lake on Friday for third place.
Gaige Navarro led Burlington, which improved to 24-4, with 20 points, while Over and Mason Collins had 16 apiece.
