It seemed like nobody wanted to win this one.
After a sloppy Class AA quarterfinal Friday night that saw King and Hillcrest combine for 39 turnovers, King finally prevailed 49-46 in overtime at Carver Arena.
The Public League champion boosted its record to 27-6 and will face St. Joseph (30-1) in the 12:45 p.m. semifinal Saturday.
An Imari Sawyer basket and a Shaun Glover steal that led to Demetrius Williams’ tip-in provided King with a 47-43 lead in overtime.
Hillcrest’s 6-foot-10-inch Reo Logan, held to six points and six rebounds, scored on a three-point play with 1 minute 28 seconds left in OT to bring the Hawks within 47-46.
Then Glover, who had six points, came to the rescue, converting a one-and-bonus free throw with 32.8 seconds left.
“I didn’t feel any pressure at all,” Glover said. “I went to the free-throw line and thought about hitting my shots to make sure we win this game. Coach (Landon Cox) makes us shoot those every day in practice.”
King struggled against No. 11 Hillcrest (25-6) as Sawyer was slowed by a sprained left ankle.
“Hillcrest is real big like us, and that made us change a lot of our shots,” Glover said. “It also made Leon (Smith) work a lot harder down low.”
The 6-foot-10-inch Smith, who played with a lot of emotion, led King with 19 points, 19 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals.
“It’s not so much that they were physical, but they went up for every rebound,” Smith said. “When you have guys with that kind of size going for every rebound, it made us start standing around and watching. That’s when we got in trouble.”
“We did not play well at all,” Cox said. “We truly almost blew this game. But our guys stuck in there, didn’t quit and showed they have a lot of heart.”
One of those missing was forward Stanley Thomas, who had led King in scoring in the Public League semifinal and title games. He was scoreless Friday night.
King pulled out to a 39-32 lead with 1:55 left in the third quarter, but Hillcrest roared back behind Odartey Blankson’s basket and a three-pointer by Lee Butler. Williams scored King’s second buzzer-beater of the game with a dunk on a feed from Sawyer to end the third.
The fourth quarter was a series of turnovers and mishaps as both teams combined to score just six points, a Class AA record for futility in a quarter. Blankson tied the game with a drive to the hoop, but Smith scored in close for a 43-41 lead with 4:30 left in regulation.
Neither team scored until Butler’s baseline jumper tied the game 43-43 with 1:01 left. A King turnover with 45.7 to go allowed Logan a potential game-winning shot that missed. King’s Thomas missed with 2.7 seconds left, and Hillcrest’s Monwell Randle hit the back of the rim on a three-point attempt at the buzzer.
“I thought we handled King as best we could,” Hillcrest coach Tom Cappel said. “Our kids hung in there and we hand a chance to win.”
Smith appeared fully recovered from the sprained left ankle he injured in King’s Public League title-game victory over Westinghouse. Sawyer, whose left-ankle injury was more severe, appeared to pick and choose his spots when he would go all-out.
In the first half, King lacked the intensity and focus it had displayed in the 59-39 triumph last Sunday. Smith was the only Jaguar playing to form, scoring 13 of King’s 27 first-half points. The All-State center also had eight rebounds by halftime.
