The gods keep smiling on Gator Nichols and Maysville boys basketball | Blackburn column
SPRINGFIELD — Certainly it couldn't happen again, right? Right??
Wrong.
It was a year ago to the day — almost to the minute, actually — when Alex Bobb saved Maysville's season with a banked-in 3-pointer against Columbus Hartley at the Athens regional.
It was a moment when time stood still in the fabled Convocation Center — and etched Bobb into the Muskingum Valley League annals forever. Maysville coach Dave Brown called it one of the biggest shots ever made in The Convo. You'd struggle to find an opinion to the contrary.
One can only wonder what he thought after Friday's developments.
Gator Nichols, the Southtown Sniper himself, saw Bobb's heroics and raised them in another historic college gym. This time Wittenberg University was the scene of the burglary.
Nichols' catch-and-shoot 3 at the buzzer, off a quick kick-out pass from Landon Iden, sealed a 75-73 comeback win against talented, resilient Cincinnati Wyoming. This time, it came in a Division IV state semifinal in the face of a one-point deficit.
In a frantic final 10 seconds, four Panthers touched the ball to lead to Nichols' heroics. It all but defined these Panthers' stellar on-court awareness.
First it was Gavin Ferguson who took an open 3 that led to a crucial tipped rebound off the back side from Kane Roehrig. It landed right in the hands of Iden on the opposite block, and Iden had the foresight to look for Nichols flashing to an open spot on the left point.
"I grabbed it, and I just felt like I knew how much time we had, felt like we could get another look," Iden explained. "He tipped it right to me. I just grabbed it and kicked it out."
Nichols took care of the rest. It was more proof that the basketball gods are big fans of the hardscrabble folks in Newton Township.
"Landon, great find," Nichols said. "All I remember is shooting it and I thought it was in. I don't even remember it going in. Everybody came and attacked me. It was crazy."
"Crazy" was a fitting term. In a hectic scene on the court, players mobbed Nichols just they did Bobb one year prior. This time, Wyoming star Kellen Wiley, who was a one-man wrecking crew in the fourth quarter and overtimes, was caught underneath. Thankfully, the masses survived unscathed.
Meanwhile, tournament personnel tried their best to diminish the moment by continually announcing for fans to stay off the court and leave the arena as players and coaches celebrated mere seconds after the final horn. Apparently the Queen of England and Duchess of York were due to arrive at any moment.
(Note to Witt: These are state tournament games. In the future try getting a feel for the room a little. There is an importance to these results in these small communities. Keep the cattle herding to the farmers.)
One might suggest the Panthers are living on the wild side with these big-game comebacks and wild finishes, yet there is almost a feeling of normalcy about it. Bobb made clutch shooting a regularity last year, Hayden Jarrett before him.
Gator is just the next in line. As a former Panther golf teammate Owen Lutz told me prior to the 2023 Division II state tournament, Gator's "clutch genes are like Kobe (Bryant)." That was well before he made his name on the basketball floor.
There are certain teams in certain places where it just feels different. Gator's grit and humble disposition epitomize what makes the Panthers' three-year run one that should stand alone in local history. No MVL team has reached consecutive state finals. The list of champs isn't much bigger.
In a year of greatness in the East District — Indian Valley football and River View boys soccer already have state titles — Maysville and Woodsfield Monroe Central will play for their own state crowns in boys basketball next Friday.
Anyone silly enough to doubt the Panthers' chances at this point does so at their own peril. I certainly won't be one of them. It's a team that does an awful lot of things right — big and little — regardless of circumstance.
And it sure seems the gods are on their side this time.
sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Blackburn: Gods keep smiling on Gator, Maysville boys basketball
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