Falcons fight by the Knights in OT

West Henderson High School's Mike James goes in for a layup during Thursday's game against North Henderson at West. MICHAEL JUSTUS/TIMES-NEWS

By Jeremy Trantham
Times-News Staff Writer

West Henderson senior Zach Corliss shook off a rough shooting night to hit a 3-pointer with just less than 10 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Falcons a 52-51 win over North Henderson in Thursday's regular-season finale.Seniors Mike James (13 points, seven rebounds) and Dallas Ducote (14 points, six rebounds) played large roles in West's Senior Night home win."I really feel like Mike was the difference for us tonight," West coach Rob Bliss said. "Dallas started hot for us then hit a little lull but kept his composure and did what he does for us on the glass."West finishes the regular season at 12-12 and 6-4 in conference to finish third. North, at 8-13, 3-7, finishes fourth to also earn an automatic playoff spot.North's girls (12-9, 4-6) held on for a 55-50 WAC win, leaving them tied with the Lady Falcons (6-16, 4-6) for third in the league. Lady Knight coach Kevin Rhodes said that a coin flip would determine which team would get the third seed in next week's conference tournament.A free throw from Chris VanLandingham gave North a 44-40 lead with just more than a minute remaining in regulation. Ducote scored inside with 1:04 to play and Corliss hit a pair of free throws to tie the score with 19.7 seconds left.VanLandingham had the ball at the top of key with time expiring and a whistle blew before just before the final horn sounded. No foul was called and the game went into overtime."The officials didn't say anything about it," North coach Skip Taylor said. "We heard a whistle."James scored four straight points at the foul line to open the extra period. A 3-pointer from North's Brad Buckner tied the score with 1:30 on the clock."I didn't think it was our best effort but a lot of credit for that goes to North Henderson and coach Taylor," Bliss said. "They came over here and got after our tails."VanLandingham then hit a pair of free throws with 15.7 seconds remaining to give him a game-high 32 points on the night."Chris is going to get his points because of the way they do things," Bliss said. "I think they're exactly right to do that. Mike did a tremoundous job guarding Chris on defense."With North holding a two-point lead, Corliss came off of a high ball screen from Ducote and fired from the left wing. After missing 10 straight shots, including five straight 3-pointers, his last attempt fell through cleanly."If they doubled we were looking for a slip out of our playside post or a reversal to Daniel (Hyatt)," said Bliss. "(Zach) asked me in the huddle, 'If my defender goes under (the screen) can I take it?' I said yes, we'll take the first good look we get."VanLandingham pushed upcourt and drove the lane, but his driving jumper was short."Zach hit a great shot," Taylor said. "He wasn't suppposed to get open. We didn't do a couple of things correctly. He got open and that's the last thing we wanted."Corliss finished with 14 points for West despite hitting just two field goals.

The WAC tournament will being on Monday at East Henderson.

BOYS
NORTH (51) -- Singletary 2, VanLandingham 32, Buckner 7, Searcy, Pressley 8, Lolley, Lytle, Brown 2.WEST (52) -- Roberts, James 13, Troutman, Corliss 14, Isgett, Barbour, Staggs, Hutchinson 2, Ducote 14, Hyatt 7, Thomas 2.Halftime: North, 25-21.