Can't beat season filled with buzzer-beaters

Lou Gehrig beat me to the "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" by about 70 years.

But that's just what I feel like this winter.

I guess I'll just go with the "I consider myself the luckiest sports writer in the Tri-Cities" speech.

Because that's what it's been for me, anywhere I go. It doesn't matter. From Burlington to Batavia, from St. Charles North to the Sears Centre, from Geneva to Elgin to Kaneland to Aurora Central.

Anywhere there's a game, there's going to be last-second drama.

I settle into my seat, then wait to see what twists and turns await. About two hours later, I'm driving back to the office trying to figure out how in the world to write a story that captures one-tenth of the excitement I just witnessed.

After the latest barn-burner this week, I decided to do a little research to see if I really have seen this many great basketball games, or if maybe it's just a bit of exaggeration.

And it's been even better than I thought.

Starting with Geneva's 73-70 upset over Batavia back in December and going through Tuesday night's 69-67 overtime win for Thornwood at St. Charles North, I covered 22 basketball games.

Six of them were fairly one-sided, decided by 16, 9, 12, 25, 17 and 13 points.

The other 16?

One buzzer beater after another.

One amazing finish after another amazing finish.

A fourth quarter comeback one night, then a fourth quarter collapse the next. Though in nearly every instance it was a team making plays to win the game, rarely the other team doing something to give the game away.

I've found myself the envy of fellow sports writers who didn't have anywhere near my good fortune. They sat through more than their fair share of blowouts while I had enough classics to last five years.

Coaches say just one or two nail-biters like these can age them twice as fast. Just imagine 16 in a 22-game stretch.

The span includes six overtimes, 12 games when the go-ahead basket came in the final minute, nine games with a go-ahead shot in the final 10 seconds, and an average margin of victory of 2.7 points.

I've never seen anything like this. The most lopsided game in those 16? A 6-point win for Batavia over Geneva in a game the Bulldogs trailed by 8 in the third quarter.

Or a 4-point victory by Batavia over Elgin in as exciting finish as you could imagine with back-to-back dagger 3s in the final 40 seconds from David Bryant to turn defeat into victory and the Elgin Holiday Tournament title.

It was the most amazing finish I had seen, since, well…since a week earlier when Max Cary delivered two last-second game-winners in one week for Geneva.

I figured Bryant's heroics would last all year as the most exciting game.

They lasted until the following week when Driscoll's Jake Lindfors banked in a 35-footer at the buzzer to force overtime at Aurora Central, only to see the Chargers storm back to win in overtime behind Mark Adams. It was a win that wound up being the key victory for the Chargers in their march to their first SCC title.

And that lasted a week until Geneva held on for a 1-point win over St. Charles North in a game that came down to a shot in the air when the buzzer went.

Which got me thinking -- I have seen 10 games when the clock hit 0:00 the winner wasn't known -- not until that final shot either went through the net or clanged off the rim.

I haven't even got to a pair of double overtime games, one for Batavia and the other St. Charles East, both which ended up in heartbreak for our local teams.

I would make a joke that it's like the old NBA saying, that you only need to watch the final two minutes. Except I would hate to miss the incredible action of the first 30 minutes of each and every one of those games.

Here's a multiple choice quiz: All these last-second games are A) about the only saving grace of the winter season, a tradeoff for the lousy weather, B) stressful on deadline, C) great tests to prepare local teams for postseason, D) all of the above.

It's D, and that's leaving out E) a chance to see how many clutch players we have this year, which could help all these area teams if they are in the same tight situation this week in the postseason.

There's Cary hitting his game-winners for Geneva. Jonathan DeMoss is about the perfect go-to player for St. Charles North because he can hit a shot, and he's strong and quick enough to penetrate, draw contact and get to the free-throw line. Adams is similar for ACC.

The best ice-in-the-veins player so far? That's still Bryant in my book.

All I know is that seeing all the clutch shots from these four players, and many others, could be just what your favorite team needs to pull out a tight win this week, the difference between a season-ending heartbreaker and the main thing you want to do in the postseason -- survive and advance.

Conventional wisdom says fans can't wait until this coming week -- the start of regional play -- to see unforgettable drama and unbelievable endings.

After the year I've been lucky enough to watch, I only hope the postseason matches the excitement we've already seen.