The scoreboard read 50-50 after New Hanover’s Ridell Camidge tied the game with a pair of free throws. The clock showed just over forty seconds. Instead of pushing the ball up the court and trying to get the ball in the basket as soon as an opportunity presented itself, the Catamounts opted to hold the ball. The clock ticked down all the way to 6.7 seconds left when Panther Creek called its final timeout. The original plan was for senior Darrian Saddler to inbound the ball to Nubian Spann in the post, however the Wildcats appeared to be expecting this move, as they tightened up on defense around Spann. Saddler then looked into the backcourt, possibly trying to get the ball to the Catamounts’ floor general Juan Munoz, however, New Hanover, as it had done throughout the entire fourth quarter, locked down on Munoz and forced Saddler to pass the ball to Senior Gaqwez Hudson. All in attendance were on their feet now, the New Hanover student section created a cacophony as all sound bounced off the low, metal ceiling in Brogden Hall. Hudson was matched up one-on-one with Ridell Camidge, who had a five-inch height advantage on him. Hudson crossed over Camidge, then pump-faked, causing him to jump. With Camidge’s long body out of the way, Gaqwez side-stepped, pulled up for a shot from the right elbow, and sunk the shot. Wildcat students and players could only watch as the buzzer sounded and the backboard lit up red. Hudson ran to the other end of the floor in excitement. His teammates chased after him, followed by Catamount Chaos and Principal Nelson himself. The court quickly turned Catamount blue in color, over 125 miles from Panther Creek High School. The Catamounts had won 52-50.

“I just tried to make something happen.” said Hudson of his game-winning shot. “I practice shots like that all the time with Coach Rob.

With all of the hype surrounding the game against first-seeded New Hanover, the buzzer-beater was a poetic ending to the biggest victory in Panther Creek basketball history. Early on, however, it did not appear that the Catamounts would ever get the opportunity to attempt a last-second shot for the win, or come anywhere close as a matter of fact. New Hanover played like a one-seed was expected to play in the opening minutes of the game: dominant. The Wildcats had a distinct height advantage over the Catamounts, leading to offensive rebounds and second-chance points. Early in the second quarter, the Wildcats began to distance themselves from the Catamounts by piecing together a twenty-three point lead. Panther Creek had early foul trouble and struggled to make a shot in any way, shape, or form, especially from beyond the arc. With senior guards Gaqwez Hudson and Malachi Paige on the  bench with foul trouble, an unlikely savior sparked a lightning-quick comeback. Josh Maciejewski made the Catamounts’ first three-pointer of the entire game with just over five minutes remaining on the clock. Then he sunk another, and another. The senior had made three treys in as many minutes. Paired with several fast break scores, Maciejewski’s phenomenal three-point shooting brought the Catamounts’ deficit all the way down to three, with the score at 27-24 at halftime.

The Wildcats halted most of the momentum that Panther Creek had built up over the course of the second quarter. New Hanover scored two straight baskets to gain a five-point lead just before Maciejewski sunk another crucial trey to finalize his point total at twelve, and bring the score to 31-29. Back and forth the two teams went. With the score at 37-36, Elijah Fairfax got a put-back floater to give Panther Creek their first tie of the game at thirty-eight. The Catamounts didn’t stop there, however; Gaqwez Hudson pushed the ball up court on the next possession and immediately pulled up from beyond the arc to give the Catamounts their biggest lead of the game at 41-38 just before the buzzer sounded, marking the end of the third quarter.

New Hanover quickly responded to the shocking run Panther Creek pulled off in the third quarter. Ridell Camidge led the way for the Wildcats, scoring quick transition points. In the blink of an eye, the crowd was riled up after the Wildcats hit their only three-pointer of the game and New Hanover, on an 9-2 run, took a 47-43 lead. Not long after, the Catamounts composed themselves and tied the game at forty-eight. Nubian Spann hit a twelve-foot jumper to give the Catamounts the 50-48 lead with just over a minute left, but Ridell Camidge, who finished with a game-best eighteen points, was fouled and made both free throws to tie the game again at fifty. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Panther Creek would retain the final possession, and the rest would be history.

The win over New Hanover advanced Panther Creek to the Elite Eight in Fayetteville’s Crown Coliseum on Friday, March 7th, at 8:30 p.m., against fourth-seeded Millbrook. Poetically, Apex defeated second-seeded Northern Durham, also on a buzzer-beater, to advance to the quarterfinals against third-seeded Clayton in the same venue, preceding the Catamounts’ matchup with Millbrook. It appears Apex and Panther Creek are on the most unlikely of collision courses. Should both teams win on Friday, they will meet the following day in the Final Four to decide who represents the East in the state championship game. However, before the Catamounts can begin to think about that, they must first defeat Millbrook.