Jopes hits game-winning 3 in final seconds for Naperville Central
No one knew until the final seconds who would win Friday's DuPage Valley Conference thriller, but Naperville Central guard Jonah Hinton had a pretty darn good idea the Redhawks would win after he passed the ball to teammate James Jopes in the waning moments.
With the score tied at 58-58, the host Redhawks inbounded the ball with 1:34 left on the clock following a missed Warriors free throw. They worked the clock a while, missed a first shot, but got a key offensive rebound from a hustling Simon Krugliakovas that allowed them to keep possession until calling time out with 12 seconds left.
That is when Hinton fired a pass to Jopes, whose 22-footer from the right wing was on target for his sixth 3-pointer of the night and a 61-58 thrilling win for the 6-0 Redhawks. Waubonsie Valley, which had held a lead of 7 points after each of the first three quarters, was done in by a Naperville Central team that made 14 shots from beyond the 3-point arc, including the game-winner.
"Our coach gives us the freedom to make the decision, so I just read the defense and when I saw the guy slide over (toward me), I trusted him to make the shot and it went in," Hinton said of his game-winning assist to Jopes, a play that led to a mass celebration of students on the court. "It was exciting. When I passed it to him I already knew it was going in. If you look at the film you can see me walk away with my hand up."
Jopes led all scorers with 12 points on four 3s in the first half, but a balanced Warriors team led 35-28 at the break and had a 52-45 lead after three quarters. But Hinton exploded for 17 second-half points including a trio of NBA-range 3s, the last of which tied the score at 58-58 with 2:15 left to play that set the stage of Jopes' heroics.
"Once we get a couple of us going we're really a hard team to beat," Jopes said of his unbeaten squad. "That was a beautiful pass from Jonah. We were obviously trying to hold the ball for the last shot. We had Jonah up top because he's our best ball handler and one of our best passers for sure. He had it up top, we wasted enough time and he drew my guy over a little bit and as soon as he saw that he kicked it over to me. As soon as I caught it and shot it I knew it was going in."
For a young Warriors squad, it was a tough loss on the road, yet another sign of this team's promise. Guard Shoi Rathi led a balanced attack with 13 points, 6-foot-6 forward Jackson Langendorf added 12 points and Eric Chtilianov had 11 points.
"I'll tell you this, I don't think a lot of people are talking about us but we've played what I consider two really good teams down to the wire. We're very young, we're still growing," Waubonsie Valley first-year coach Andrew Schweitzer said. "We're going to get better, though. That's the biggest thing."