After trailing by 13 at halftime, the Kenwood Broncos fought their way back to defeat their rival the University Maroons. With just under two seconds to play, Broncos senior shooting guard Xavier Edwards scored a 60-foot half court shot at the buzzer to lift the team to a 60-58 victory, Feb. 20 at Kenwood Academy High School.
“The last three minutes of the game was tough,” said Juwon Johnson, a junior point guard for the team. “We all had to fight back because we were down five or six points. But Edwards half-court heave put the game away.”
Kenwood Head Coach Jim Maley said despite Edwards hitting a phenomenal game-winning shot, the last play in the game was not designed to go to him.
Maley said that Edwards was the team’s last resort, because he actually drew up a play for senior guard Joell Davis to try to get close to the basket and score.
But due to the Maroons’ (17-6) defense, the Broncos were forced to pass it to Edwards.
After the game, Edwards said he didn’t know that he would be placed in that position, but he knew either way Kenwood would come out on top.
“All I saw was the rim,” Edwards said. “I was confident that I was going to make the shot because I didn’t want our team to lose.”
Edwards said he didn’t know his teammates were going to give him the ball, “but had to go off their trust and make the shot.”
With Kenwood’s season record now standing at (11-14), Maley said it was good to see the team fight back and finally sneak away with a win.
“Pride was all we talked about at halftime,” Maley said. “I told the team that they could either go back out and lose by 20 or go out and show some fight.”
Leading the way for Kenwood was junior shooting guard Rahamanh Katumbusi with 17 points as he shot 54% from the field. Fellow senior Joell Davis added 15 points and the Broncos now hold a 1-0 season record against the Maroons.
“It’s nice when these two teams play against each other because the game brings the community together as a whole,” said Maroons Head Coach Marlo Finner.
“This was a great game tonight,” Finner said. “Hopefully, we can keep the rivalry going for years to come.”