RICHMOND — The backboard shook and shook and kept on shaking, the victim of yet another Hampton dunk in Friday’s Virginia Class 4 boys’ basketball state championship game — a game that had seemingly slipped away from No. 18 Tuscarora with 74 seconds left and the Huskies facing an eight-point deficit.
It was the kind of hole and crowd-jolting play teams don’t dig themselves out from. And yet, in a 66-63 loss at VCU’s Siegel Center, Tuscarora almost did.
Senior TJ Duggan hit a three from the right wing and nodded, cutting the lead to five with 55 seconds left. A sidestep three from Jayden Johnson cut it to four with 47 remaining. A steal on the Crabbers’ ensuing full-court pass, followed by a corner three from Duggan, put the Huskies down just a point 12 seconds later.
With three seconds left and Tuscarora down three after a pair of Crabbers free throws, the ball found Duggan again for a straightaway three-point attempt. It was the right player — Duggan had scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter — and the right look. The senior was searching for contact and got it on his left arm on his way up. But it wasn’t enough for a whistle. The best season in program history bounced off the front rim, and Duggan buried his face in his jersey as teammates put their arms around him.
“What you saw in the fourth quarter was us,” Coach Michael Newkirk said. “We’re not going to stop. We’re not going away. Regardless of the outcome, we’re going to continue to fight. I tell them all the time, we make the impossible possible.”
All winter, the Huskies had faced a size deficit. They had knockdown shooters, plucky guards and tenacious rebounders instead. It shaped their identity; it worked because their eight seniors always clicked. Even with Johnson (28 points), a superstar in Loudoun County, the Huskies (25-4) never felt like anybody was above anyone else.
That allowed them to play free. But the Crabbers (25-2) took what they could get inside, earning a 34-8 edge in paint points with layups and post moves aplenty. For much of the game, the Huskies’ five-out looks kept them in it. Johnson went on a 10-2 run on his own to cut the halftime deficit to one.
“I’ve got guys that [a deficit] doesn’t faze,” Newkirk said.
With four minutes left, though, the Huskies trailed by 15. And though they got it to one, there wasn’t enough time left to pull ahead.
“We’re always going to believe in each other,” Duggan said. “We’re always going to fight until time runs out.”
