McKinney's heroics at buzzer push Johnson past Westlake, keep Jags perfect in 26-6A

It may not have been how Johnson coach Ben Kinnison drew it up, but the game ending with the ball in Sam McKinney's hands — or in this case, hand — is never a bad thing.

McKinney’s tip-in with no time left on what was essentially an unintentional alley-oop gave the Jaguars a 54-52 win over Westlake Friday at Westlake High School to keep the Jaguars undefeated in District 26-6A.

Whether it has district championship or playoff seeding consequences remains to be seen as both teams figure to be postseason bound, but McKinney’s heroics did set up what to date is the boys district basketball game of the year in the Austin area.

Combined with Lake Travis’ win over Bowie, it makes Tuesday’s game between the Cavs and Johnson — both of whom are 6-0 in district play — a showdown rarely seen this early in January.

While that game will come soon enough, the Jaguars didn’t have the future on their mind in the immediate aftermath of a mammoth road win, especially since they trailed by nine late in the third quarter.

“Westlake is a really good program and just notorious for being strong,” said McKinney, who led all scorers with 18 points. “Coming into this hostile environment and taking care of business is huge for any team.”

After Gavin Paull tied the game at 52-52 on a drive to the lane for the Chaps with 45 seconds left, Johnson ran the clock down to under 10 seconds before taking a timeout.

Putting the ball in the hands of star guard Jaxson Vandegarde, he drove the lane and was forced into a position under the basket where he attempted a shot that went straight up.

Positioned just inside the lane, McKinney jumped, caught the ball with one hand and flipped it into the basket while still in the air, barely beating the buzzer.

“Crashing the boards is really important, and it really just came down to effort,” McKinney said. “It wasn’t skill or anything. I was just trying to make a play, and it went in.”

In a back-and-forth game between teams ranked in the top five of the Statesman’s boys power poll, McKinney poured in 10 points in the first quarter to spur the Jaguars to a 17-9 lead.

Westlake responded with a 19-4 run in the second quarter that was keyed by two 3-pointers apiece from Paull, who finished with 17 points, and Max Purushothaman.

The Chaps led 39-30 late in the third before Johnson (19-4) slowly whittled away at the lead.

Jack Untermeyer came up clutch for the Jaguars by hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 11 of his 15 points in the final nine minutes, especially with Vandegarde having a slower night scoring.

“It’s not often that happens, so the next man has to be ready and step up,” Untermeyer said. “In the second half we kind of spread them out, as (Johnson coach Ben Kinnison) told us in the locker room we needed to have more movement. We found some holes in their defense and I was getting open for 3-pointers.”

Kinnison noted he wasn’t surprised to see Untermeyer perform well.

“Tonight was kind of a microcosm of what he’s been all year,” said Kinnison, who led the Jaguars to a share of the district title a year ago. “He’s been really solid for us. He doesn’t get a lot of publicity, but he’s come into his own a little bit and is playing with a ton of confidence.”

The game was tied five times in the final five minutes with each team producing big shot after big shot.

Donovan Lee drained two 3-pointers for Westlake, which trailed at 52-50 for the first time since midway through the second quarter when Vandegarde sank an up-and-under.

Paull’s shot a few moments later set the scene for McKinney's game-ending dramatics.

“We have good players who make plays when plays break down,” Kinnison said. “Jackson got a shot up in time for us to rebound it, and that’s what we like to have happen when the clock runs down. … Beating Westlake is big. I have the utmost respect for this program and for (Westlake coach Robert Lucero). Westlake has set the standard over the last decade for everyone else to try and meet.”

Westlake (17-7, 5-2), which lost to Lake Travis in the district opener, will still very much figure into the district race.

It gets another shot at both the Jaguars and Cavs down the road, though it will have to win on the road both times to put the standings into a quandary.

“We gave up 10 offensive rebounds, so that makes it feel like they were playing a lot harder when the ball is in the air than we were,” Lucero said. “We didn’t start the game well, and then when we got the lead, we didn’t play well with a lead. … But they did a good job of spreading us out, shooting 3-pointers and rebounding. So you have to give credit to them for what they did.”

Though Johnson was celebratory afterwards, it was nothing like a year ago when it ended Westlake’s 85-game winning streak in district play.

The Jaguars lost to Lake Travis by 18 four days later, and this year they know there’s another showdown awaiting with the Cavs and a long way to go in the district race.

“This feels good, but we can only enjoy it tonight,” Untermeyer said. “We have to start getting ready for Lake Travis.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: McKinney's heroics at the buzzer push Johnson past Westlake