By Ernie W. Webb III
OLPE — Dane Winters was begging for the ball with the clock running down. He clapped his hands as forward Lance Noonan spun to his left, took one dribble and passed the ball to him behind the 3-point line and eight feet from the baseline.
With one second left, Winters calmly stepped into the shot, flicking his wrist and leaving his right hand up as the ball rotated perfectly through the air. Moments after the buzzer sounded, the shot settled softly into the net, and Winters pumped his fist as Noonan picked him up and teammates ran toward the freshman guard to celebrate.
The clutch 3-pointer capped Burlingame’s rally from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter, and the Bearcats advanced to a Class 1A Division I sub-state championship game with a 41-40 win Thursday against second-seeded Madison.
“I wanted the shot. I knew we needed it,” said Winters, who hadn’t scored until the timely trey. “It felt good as soon as I shot it; felt like I was on top of the world.”
The game-winning shot came on a broken play out of a timeout with 8.4 seconds left. Trailing 40-38, Burlingame coach Eric West wanted to get the ball to all-state center Trever Quaney, a career 1,000-point scorer with 3-point range. But Quaney, who had 12 points and seven rebounds, fumbled while dribbling toward the middle of the court and had to pass to Noonan just to the right of the key.
“The draw-up was for Quaney, and he caught it in the right spot,” West said. “When the ball got away from him, it threw the play off. Credit to Dane. It was a great shot, and he had great composure.”
Until the closing seconds, the Bearcats were perilously close to finishing a wild season that included a couple of forfeited games with a disappointing loss. The Bulldogs led 39-35 with 22.8 seconds left after a pair of free throws by Drew Stutesman, and Burlingame missed a shot after racing down the court. But Noonan grabbed the rebound, scored on a put-back and was fouled. His three-point play gave the Bearcats a chance.
“That play is what kept us alive,” West said. “We got exactly the shot we wanted, but missed, and Noonan was right there.”
Stutesman, who had 16 points and nine rebounds, hit the second of two free throws with 11.8 seconds left to give Madison a 40-38 lead, and Burlingame called a timeout in the front court with 8.4 seconds remaining to set up the final shot.
The Bearcats had to scrap to stay in the game in the fourth quarter after Gavin Isch banked in a running 3-pointer at the end of the third period. The Bulldogs led by seven twice in the final frame, including 35-28 midway through the quarter.
Quaney canned a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to four, and Matthew Heckman followed with a bucket at the 3:40 mark. Noonan added a couple of free throws with 2:35 left to knot the game at 35. After trading empty possessions, Madison ran more than a minute off the clock before Stutesman hit a short jumper from the baseline to give the Bulldogs a 37-35 advantage with 36.1 seconds left. Stutesman hit two free throws after Quaney missed a three to push the lead to 39-35.
“The adversity we’ve been through this season helped us tonight,” West said. “Even when we weren’t playing well, there was no finger-pointing or anything like that in timeouts. The kids could have folded it up, but they didn’t. We’re hardened to some of that stuff after some of the things that have happened.”
Burlingame got off to a fast start, leading 13-7 after the first quarter behind eight points from Noonan, who finished with 15. Madison countered in the second quarter, rallying from an 18-12 deficit to tie the game at 20 by the break. The Bulldogs pulled away at the end of the third period on a short jumper by Lane Darbro and Isch’s 3-pointer.
The Bearcats’ reward for the comeback is a sub-state title game against defending state champion and top-ranked Olpe. The Eagles rolled past Burlingame in the Lyon County League tournament during a game in which Noonan and starting point guard Andrew Zeller did not play.
“We knew when the sub-states came out that this was going to be the game we’d be playing in,” West said. “Honestly, it’s a great spot for us to be in. We know it’s going to be a challenge, but these kids will give it all they have like they have all year.”
BURLINGAME 41, MADISON 40
Burlingame 13 7 6 15 — 41
Madison 7 13 11 9 — 40
Burlingame (16-5): Lance Noonan 5-11 5-5 15, Trever Quaney 4-8 2-2 12, Matthew Heckman 3-7 0-0 7, Dane Winters 1-5 0-0 3, Andrew Zeller 1-3 0-0 2, Colby Middleton 1-2 0-0 2, Kris Hovestadt 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-38 7-7 41.
Madison (16-5): Drew Stutesman 6-12 1-2 15, Bryson Turner 3-10 2-2 8, Trace Dannels, Lane Darbro 1-1 2-2 4, Braden Foltz 1-10 0-0 3, Gavin Isch 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 14-41 7-8 40.
3-point goals – Burlingame: 4-14 (Quaney 2-3, Winters 1-4, Heckman 1-2, Zeller 0-2, Hovestadt 0-2, Middleton 0-1); Madison: 5-17 (Stutesman 2-3, Foltz 1-8, Dannels 1-3, Isch 1-1, Turner 0-1). Rebounds – Burlingame 23 (Noonan 6); Madison 17 (Stutesman 9). Turnovers – Burlingame 9, Madison 5. Fouled out – Zeller.
