Counting down Southwest Georgia’s Top 10 sports stories of 2014 — No. 7: Westover boys lose heart-breaker in basketball semifinals

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Herald’s sports staff has chosen Southwest Georgia’s Top 10 sports stories from 2014. Today marks the fourth of the 10 we’ve picked as having a significant influence as we count down to No. 1, which will appear in the Jan. 1 addition. Look for No. 6 in Saturday’s Herald.

ALBANY — It had to be the most difficult basket Westover High School center C.J. Davis had ever watch an opposing player convert.

After working hard to make a deep postseason run, the Patriots had everything they had worked so hard to attain taken from them — literally, in the blink of an eye.

“As soon as I looked up I saw the ball go through and then I heard the buzzer, and all I was wondering was did it count,” Davis told the Herald.

Unfortunately for Davis and the rest of his teammates, the shot counted, and Columbia stunned the Patriots 57-55 in the Class AAAA state semifinals at the University of West Georgia last March.

Westover’s dream of winning its first state basketball title since 2001 was also shattered — on a last-second buzzer-beater.

“To come all the way and lose like that, I just feel like breaking down and crying right now,” Davis said. “I’m trying to hold it in.”

With 51 seconds to play, there was hope as Westover’s Mike Green scored and was fouled. Green converted the free throw, tying the game at 55. However, Columbia held for the final shot. With seven seconds left, Columbia’s Anthony Rice drove to the basket and lofted a short layup attempt.

Davis was there to deflect the shot with two seconds left, but Keuntay Puckett was there for the rebound and put back at the horn. It was a heart-breaking ending to one of the finest games the Patriots had played all season.

Westover guard Jordan Floyd thought that regulation was over when Davis blocked Rice’s shot.

“I thought it was overtime, but as soon as it hit the net, I broke down,” Floyd said. “That was it. We had worked so hard to get to this point, and to have our goals crushed that way leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. It was shocking.”

Columbia’s buzzer beater ended one of Westover’s best runs in years. The Patriots came into the state semifinal game against Columbia on a 10-game winning streak. Westover won Region 1-AAAA and dominated their opponents in the first two rounds of the state tournament.

“Our kids came together at the right time and believed in everything we had been teaching them and telling them to do,” Westover head coach Dallas Smith said.

With the game tied 55, Columbia stalled for the last 40 seconds. Westover’s Dontavious Robinson narrowly missed getting a steal and a sure layup which, perhaps, would have changed fortunes for the Patriots.

Instead, it was a horrible ending to a dream season.

“Once I realized that it counted, I just wanted to get out,” Davis said. “I just wanted to go home.”