One of the more exciting finishes to a high school basketball state title game came in a surprisingly small classifications.
With the Texas Class 4A state championship game somehow knotted at 51 — Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy, from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, had entered as significant favorites — Faith Family got one more chance to win the game and regulation.
With 20 seconds remaining after Liberty Hill knotted the game on a layup, Faith Family brought the ball up the floor and worked the clock. With the final seconds ticking away, a drive to the lane opened up a backdoor, baseline cut from freshman forward Jordan Walsh, who received a spot perfect pass, elevated and flushed home a game and state-title winning dunk as the final tenths of a second expired.
Game, set, match and title, Faith Family. 53-51.
Here’s another look:
“I feel on top of the world. I feel like I’m the man,” Walsh told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after the game, which was played in San Antonio’s Alamodome. “Glad my teammates made it available for me.”
They made it available, but the 6-foot-6, 175-pound first year breakout star absolutely made it his, slamming home the season’s most decisive points with authority.
“Just like we drew it up, right,” Faith Family coach Brandon Thomas told the Star-Telegram. “I can’t even believe we’ve done it. To win it in that fashion, it’s unreal. It’s a story-book ending.”
And if there was any question that the coaching didn’t end at the final whistle, here’s Thomas, consoling a Liberty Hill player after the hard fought loss:
Will the walk-off dunk prove to be the most dramatic finish of a state title game in 2019? It’s certainly in contention, and the crowd reaction will be awfully hard to beat.
