ASHLAND — The play wasn’t drawn up that way, but West Holmes will gladly take the result.

Ethan Kinsey’s off-balance bucket at the buzzer gave the Knights their first Ohio Cardinal Conference victory of the season, as West Holmes (5-9, 1-7) prevailed 64-63 inside Arrow Arena Saturday night.

Just seconds before Kinsey’s heroics, Ashland’s Mitch Heilman gave his Arrows squad the lead with a 15-foot jump shot from the left elbow and a 63-62 Ashland advantage. But the 2.1 seconds left on the clock proved to be just enough time for the Knight comeback. The loss drops Ashland to 2-12, 1-7.

The wildly entertaining game featured a dozen lead changes (four in the final quarter), 19 triples and stellar defensive efforts from both teams, before Kinsey’s basket sent the visiting bench streaming onto the court.

With 2.1 seconds on the clock, the Knights inbounded the ball under Ashland’s basket. The long pass sailed three-quarters of the court, caromed off a West Holmes player and right to Kinsey, whose off-balance shot from just inside the 3-point arc went in as the buzzer went off.

"That shot wasn’t made for me at all," said Kinsey. "It was supposed to be for our big man to go up and catch a jump ball. I knew it would be tipped and it happened to fall into my hands and I shot it. This is my first game-winner ever."

The Arrows stormed out to a 12-5 advantage in the first period following a Kamrin Knowlton-Goings 3-point shot, but the Knights closed the gap to 15-12 heading into the second quarter.

Six lead changes highlighted the second period, before baskets by Chance Wells and Jacob Goudy in the final minute gave West Holmes a 33-26 lead at intermission.

West Holmes finally found some breathing room in the third quarter, rolling out to a 12-point lead behind a pair of triples by Bryce Myers. Down 43-31, the Arrows methodically used a 7-0 mini-run of their own to slice the lead to 43-38 and when Kleijhan Randleman’s traditional three-point play was followed by a bucket from teammate Garrett Denbow in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter, Ashland trailed just 45-43 entering the frenetic fourth quarter.

The Arrows regained the lead at the 5-minute mark on a Denbow deep 3-point shot at 51-48. Following a Shane Jones basket for the Knights, Heilman’s triple gave the Arrows a 54-50 lead. But the only two Ashland turnovers of the quarter helped spur a 7-0 West Holmes run and a 57-54 lead.

With the Knights leading 57-56, Meyers and Knowlton-Goings traded triples with under 2 minutes to play. Randleman’s bucket with 35.8 left gave the Arrows the lead at 61-60. Following a pair of free throws by Jones that gave the lead back to the Knights, Ashland coach Jason Hess called a timeout with 9.9 seconds left in the game, setting the stage for the Heilman basket but enough time on the clock for a Knight victory.

"I was very proud of the way our kids responded tonight," said West Holmes coach Keith Troyer. "Especially when Ashland made their comeback. We had some kids that stepped up and hit some big shots for us. I was just very proud of the way they held their composure and finished off the game."

Neither team was bashful from the 3-point line as the Knights finished the game 10 of 20 for a fine 50 percent reading from beyond the arc, while the Arrows connected on 9 of 25 3s (36 percent). Ashland finished with a slim 28-26 rebounding edge and neither team had an advantage at the charity stripe as the Knights hit 6 of 8 free throws to Ashland's 4 of 6.

Myers’ five triples and 17 points led the Knights, while Garrett Denbow led all scorers with 21 points and five triples of his own for Ashland.

"We had a shot to win it," Hess said. "Mitch made a great shot near the end but they had two seconds to make a play and they made one. Even though those plays at the end are magnified, and rightfully so, there are a lot of things we did and didn’t do early on that put us in that situation. A couple of rebounds we didn’t get, some defensive possessions giving up open 3s, just little things like that over the course of 32 minutes don’t seem like a big deal at the time, but are magnified in situations like this."