Victoria West's Drew Erskine leaps for a shot past Floresville's Mason Ray, left, and Charlie Albert during the closing seconds of a 44-42 Warriors' win on Friday.
Erskine's late basket lifts Warriors over Floresville
Originally published January 27, 2012 at 11:12 p.m., updated January 28, 2012 at 12:25 a.m.
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Victoria West's Drew Erskine and Floreville's Mason Ray fall out-of-bounds after fighting over the ball below the West basket during Friday's game at Victoria West High School. Ray was able to hit the ball back into the court and it was recovered by a Floresville player. ANGELI WRIGHT/AWRIGHT@VICAD.COM
Victoria West's Clayton Cain leaps over Floresville's Charlie Albert to score a basket during the fourth quarter of Friday's game at Victoria West High School. The Warriors defeated the Tigers 44-42. ANGELI WRIGHT/AWRIGHT@VICAD.COM
Victoria West's Geoff Graff, left, Tyler Foeh, center, and Trey Cole, right, react after Drew Erskine made a game-winning-basket in the last seconds of Friday night's game against Floresville. The Warriors defeated the Tigers 44-42. ANGELI WRIGHT/AWRIGHT@VICAD.COM
Victoria West's James Murphy shoots a lay-up during Friday night's game against Floresville at Victoria West High School. The Warriors defeated the Tigers 44-42. ANGELI WRIGHT/AWRIGHT@VICAD.COM
Victoria West was in the midst of a tough District 30-4A battle on Friday night.
Fans wearing Warriors red and Floresville maroon were on the edge of their seats, but West guard Drew Erskine knew how the game was going to play out.
"When we got the ball back and it was tied I felt like we were going to win for sure," said the senior. "I felt we had the momentum, we go through that all the time in practice. Tonight it paid off."
With the clock winding down and the game deadlocked, Erskine took the ball, drove to his left, pulled up and hit a buzzer-beater over Floresville's Charlie Albert and Mason Ray to give the Warriors a 44-42 win.
Erskine scored the game's final six points in the last 1:30, as West overcame a six-point fourth quarter deficit.
"I'm glad I took my heart medicine," said West coach Pat Erskine to assistant coach Bucky Hartman after the game.
The win gives West (15-12) a 3-2 record, while Floresville (14-13) has a 1-4 mark at the halfway point in district play.
Erskine scored a game-high 24 points, while senior post Clayton Cain added 11. Ray led the Tigers with 14 points.
"It feels really good, it's always good to win," Cain said.
The fourth quarter had a sloppy start, but a memorable finish.
Floresville shot 20 percent (1-for-5) from the field while West shot 40 percent (4-for-10) in the closing frame.
Albert's bucket in the paint with 4:28 remaining was the final Floresville score.
West junior guard James Murphy started the West rally with a midcourt steal that led to a layup and cut the Tigers lead to 42-38 with 2:40 remaining.
Erskine's jumper got West within two points with 1:08 remaining.
After Albert missed the front end of a one-and-one attempt, Erskine and senior post Jacob Garza combined for the pivotal play of the game.
Erskine drove left to the lane, but missed a shot over two sets of arms and hit the floor.
But Garza came up with the rebound and dished off to Erskine for the tying bucket with 42 seconds remaining.
"Hats off to Jacob, without that last rebound we're not even in it at the end," Drew Erskine said.
Floresville had opportunities to ice the game. Albert and Derek Moczygemba missed free throws in the final two minutes.
The Tigers also missed a layup in the final minute that Cain corralled to give the Warriors the final possession.
"You're lucky when it goes in and you're bitter when it doesn't," Pat Erskine said.
Although Floresville struggled to end the game, that's not how it started.
The Tigers scored 18 points thanks to 80 percent shooting.
"They were making shots at the beginning of the game that were unbelievable," Pat Erskine said.
West overcame Floresville's hot shooting with its bigger bodies inside.
West had a dominant 21-8 rebounding edge and outscored Floresville 18-14 in the paint.
Mendiola's third 3-pointer sparked a 14-2 Tiger run to start the third quarter that helped Floresville build a six-point lead.
Cain had the only two West field goals in the quarter and the Tigers won the backcourt matchup.
"They went guards on us and we struggled there," Pat Erskine said.
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