Battling until the end, the junior varsity basketball team tries to finish off the McKinney High School Lions junior varsity team Feb. 2.
During the fourth quarter, Lions were up by five with a minute left to play. Sophomore Sage Phiffer-King forced a turnover and scored a quick layup to cut the lead to three with 45 seconds remaining.

McKinney trotted up the floor in an effort to shave time off the clock. Putting the pressure on the Lions, sophomore Semaj Smith-Hodge played full court defense on the Lions point guard and forced him out of bounds.

Freshman Corbin Johnson took the inbound pass from Phiffer-King and passed back to him to break the Lions’ press. Phiffer-King swung the ball to the corner to Johnson. Johnson took the ball from the top of the key and drove in with only seconds to spare, as he drew the foul and made the layup, giving the team a chance. Johnson hit the shot and forced overtime.

“The game was on the line and it was on me to make that free throw,” Johnson said.

McKinney High struck first with a quick layup to take the lead. The junior varsity team answered back with a jump shot from sophomore Jordan Paylor. After minutes of vigorous play, the junior varsity team trailed by two with 40 seconds remaining. Phiffer-King scored the tying basket.
McKinney took the inbound pass and walked to half court, running the clock down, for the final possession. McKinney tried to swing the ball to their corner man, but the pass was batted down and stolen by Phiffer-King. With seven seconds to spare, Phiffer-King sprinted down the court and took his contested layup but missed. The teams were headed to double overtime.

The junior varsity team won the jump ball and had first possession. McKinney stole the ball and a few minutes later, the team trailed by seven. The junior varsity team fell short to the McKinney High Lions 66-59.

“It was a very exciting game, both teams fought hard, but in the end we shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers and bad shot selections, but we learned a valuable lesson and finished the season out 14-5,” Coach Terry said.