Waubonsie Valley 61, Neuqua Valley 59
Jelani Johnson will never have to buy a soft drink in this town again.
The Waubonsie Valley junior forward's 18-foot jumper from the right side at the buzzer immediately enrolled his name in District 204 boys basketball lore.
It gave the Warriors a 61-59 victory over nemesis Neuqua Valley on Friday in Aurora, plus the Upstate Eight Conference lead.
After a heady timeout by Waubonsie's Josh Daniels with eight seconds left and draped by defenders, Neuqua fouled with five seconds to go.
Johnson's inbounds pass to senior Kevin VandenBerg was quickly returned to Johnson below the foul line extended. His swish had players and fans of Waubonsie Valley (15-3, 5-0) storming the court.
"Beating Neuqua feels great because previous years I've never beat Neuqua, so it feels real good. And I've never hit a game-winning shot like that," said Johnson, who led all scorers with 24 points.
"And when they doubled Kevin I was right there, and I had to hit the big shot. So I feel real good right now."
Warriors coach Steve Weemer -- who called the win "very, very special" -- had point man VandenBerg make the call despite missing the prior three games with a thumb injury.
"Coach wanted me to get screened and come out and drive to the hoop and either create or create for someone else," VandenBerg said.
"I got double- or even triple-teamed in the corner. I really had nowhere else to go. So I saw 'J' open and he just hit a big-time shot."
Neuqua Valley (11-5, 4-1) relinquished a 56-49 lead with 4:56 left to play.
Waubonsie tied it 56-56 on Johnson's lane jumper, a Justin Peaster 3, and Kyle Obendorf's inside hoop from a VandenBerg assist at 1:54.
Neuqua's Dan Pawelski hit a free throw for a 57-56 edge but Peaster sank his second 3 from the same spot in the left corner with 54 seconds left.
"That's my shot, in the corner, all day," Peaster said.
Neuqua's Anthony Jordan scored with 28 seconds left to tie it at 59-59. Then…
"They set something up and they just reacted nicely and we kind of blew up a little bit there," said Pawelski, the Neuqua senior center who scored 9 points.
Anton Wilkins scored 12 points and Dwayne Evans 11 for the Wildcats. Daniels scored 10 for Waubonsie.
Waubonsie's rush, and its 22-point third quarter to negate a 28-21 halftime deficit, ate at Neuqua coach Todd Sutton.
"Jelani was all-state tonight," he said. "They had a lot of people hit a lot of big shots. They did a great job executing offense to break us down."