Steph Dixon thought the shot was good. So did many of his teammates as well as their classmates who filled the student section behind the basket.
But Dixon’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have tied the game spun out and De La Salle fell to Hyde Park 43-40 in the Class 3A De La Salle Sectional final on March 6.
“For sure, I thought it was in,” the sophomore guard said. “I had a few of those happen this season. But it just fell out. …
“I was thinking that it was going to go in, but it is what it is. It’s basketball and you miss some and you make some. But I’m coming back for two more years. They have to see me again. I’m going to think about this moment every time I step on the court. Like I said, they have to see me again.”
Dixon finished with nine points to share team-high honors with junior forward Chaden Harvey. Senior forward Remi Edwards added eight points and 12 rebounds for the Meteors, who finished 18-17.
“What I’ll remember most about playing here is that this year, we played more as a team than any of my years that I’ve been here,” Edwards said. “I would tell the guys who are coming back next season just to play hard. That was our biggest thing to come out and play hard and stick to the process.
“If you stick to the process and have the belief like we did this year, you’ll be good. The belief was the biggest key.”
Hyde Park (25-9) took a 40-33 lead as Keontae Douglas, who scored a game-high 14 points, connected on three free throws with 2:02 remaining. After a pair of Harvey free throws drew De La Salle within 40-35, Dixon swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 58.1 seconds remaining to make it 40-38.
Following Amare Leflore’s driving layup that gave the Thunderbirds a 42-38 lead with 41.5 seconds left, the Meteors pulled to within 42-40 as Harvey converted Dixon’s pass for a layup with 14.9 seconds left.
Leflore (nine points) was then fouled by Dixon. Hyde Park’s senior guard missed his first free throw and made his second, setting the score at 43-40 with 13.4 seconds remaining.
“Our kids played hard and they played hard all year for us,” De La Salle coach Gary DeCesare said. “I’m so proud of our seniors, the ones who stayed. As I told my seniors all year, they were built here, they stayed here and they finished here. That’s the only thing you can ask of them.
“As I told them in the locker room and we had a really tough locker room, there are only a couple of teams that are going to end their seasons on wins. My job as a coach is to make sure you’re a better person and a better player in that order. And I think we accomplished that with this group.”