Quitno hits buzzer-beater, sending Nevada junior varsity boys to OT victory

The Nevada Tigers junior varsity boys basketball team defeated the Butler Bears 42-39 in an overtime thriller.

In the extra session, sophomore Johnny Quitno hit the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.

"They made a three at the end of regulation to tie the game," Nevada head coach Kyle Talley said. "In overtime, with the game tied, we grabbed a missed free throw and got the ball ahead to Johnny in the high corner and he buried the three as the buzzer sounded.

"I'm very happy for John. He is a good shooter and a huge asset for us. Sometimes we don't get John as open as we should. We are a better group when he is taking open threes."

Talley said he was pleased with his team's overall play.

"We executed in the half court very well and got it inside in the first quarter, but could not finish," he said. "We had guys inside making the correct play, just not scoring it early on. We struggled to handle it early, so we made one adjustment at halftime (related to) screening the guard on our press break, and got some run-outs."

"The guys got tougher with the ball in the second half and executed that plan. Late in regulation we got too lax defensively and didn't get to shooters and they hit shots to catch up.

"Offensively late, the guys did fine. Butler comes and defends you 30 feet from the basket, so with a small lead we wanted to spread it out and go around them and drive to the basket for offense."

Freshmen team

The Nevada boys freshmen basketball team improved to 13-2, with 55-29 drubbig of Butler, Tuesday night. For Nevada Braden Hinton scored a team-high 15 points.