PEORIA — There’s nothing normal about a shot from beyond halfcourt to beat the buzzer at the state tournament.
Carson Frakes added an additional degree of difficulty Friday, when the natural right-hander flipped his winning shot through the net left-handed to give Taylor Ridge Rockridge a 45-43 win against a shocked Hales squad in the late-night Class 2A state semifinal at Carver Arena.
“I shoot left-handed long shots because when I was younger I always shot left-handed, but I wasn’t consistent, so they told me to try right-handed,” Frakes said. “I’ve stuck with right-handed ever since because I’ve become more consistent, but I’ve always felt more comfortable shooting long shots with my left hand.
“I always shoot them in practice, just for the heck of it. To think that the game came down to a long shot, I was thankful I had been practicing those.”
Frakes, a 6-foot-4 junior, finished with 17 points to help send the Rockets to Saturday’s 2A title game against St. Joseph-Ogden.
Hales forward Austin Trice gave his team a 43-42 lead with a basket with 5.1 seconds left. The Spartans set up full-court pressure after the basket.
Rockridge point guard Gentry Whiteman haphazardly set up the winning play. He lost control of his dribble against Hales’ pressure, gathered the ball while on his back and flipped a pass to Franks for the shot heard around Illinois and beyond.
“It was crazy,” said Rockridge senior TJ Martens, who scored a game-high 19 points. “Hopefully he takes me out to the Ellen show on that one when it hits SportsCenter Top 10. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Some of Frakes’ teammates joked during Friday’s postgame press conference that his oft-practiced left-handed shots were a bit annoying.
Frakes said he practiced his left-handed long-range shots during Friday’s shootaround, but said he hadn’t attempted a left-handed shot in a game in years.
“I think the last time I shot one was in seventh or eighth grade to beat a buzzer to go into halftime,” Frakes said. “It’s just natural for me to go with my left hand because I knew I was more comfortable with that. It was just a great feeling when I shot it because I thought it was going left at first.”
Hales senior guard Nick McKenzie, who made two crucial late 3s to put the Spartans in position to win, said he thought the shot was after the buzzer, but video replay is not in effect at the high-school level.
“I think the guys did a great job in the backcourt trying to get a steal,” McKenzie said. “It was a heck of a shot. Seeing the shot go through was heartbreaking. I felt the shot wasn’t reviewed enough.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
