Last-Second Layup by St. Clair Ends Tars' District Final Hopes

held the lead for most of its district semifinal game against St. Clair Wednesday night, but Jeremy Carrell's layup with 4.5 seconds left gave the Saints the lead when it mattered most: when the clock struck zero.

"I was too excited, I was trying to play defense first, then they called time-out and all my emotions came out," Carrell said.

As Branden Padgett's buzzer-beater attempt rattled off the rim the Tars' season came to a close in heartbreaking fashion, falling 46-45 against visiting St. Clair.

Anchor Bay was ahead for the majority of the game, and led by as many as seven points in the third quarter. But clutch shots by the Saints stymied every Tar attempt at putting away the visitors.

"They always hit that timely three, we couldn't get that separation," said Anchor Bay coach Todd Green.

The 3-pointers kept the Saints in the game, but in the end, a pick and roll won it for them.

"We got it to him (Carrell) and it was just letting him play, we brought a high screen for him and spaced the floor and said go make a play," said St. Clair  coach Shawn Sharrow.

18 points weren't enough for the Tars, who graduate seven seniors from this squad. Jones' presence inside forced the Saints to double- and triple-team him all night, creating open shots on the outside for Anchor Bay.

"He's (Jones) such an athlete we just wanted to make him work for everything he got," Sharrow said. "We knew he was going to get some, but we tried to surround him, choke down a little bit on him and make it difficult. We wanted to take him away, we helped off, we gave their shooters some shots—luckily they missed some of them. They had some good looks, (but) luckily we were able to grab a few of those rebounds."

St. Clair moves on to take on L'Anse Creuse, which beat Dakota 69-54 in the other semifinal, on Friday night.

"We knew that coming in they were gonna scrap," Green said. "They had nothing to lose. They take a lot of charges. We knew if they were standing there to just take a jumper but sometimes that's hard to do when you're aggressive and you want to attack the basket."

Sharrow said that's something that has been stressed all season.

"We stress not getting split on dribble penetration," he said. "We knew they're going to put their head down and they're either going to split us and we're going to  get some charges. We came out and took at least three or four of them, which are key plays, momentum changers."

For the Tar seniors, the painful memory of this last-second defeat isn't one that will be easily forgotten.

"I told them the dream comes to an end for all but four teams in Michigan," Green said. "It's hard for them to understand that until it happens, especially the seniors."

Anchor Bay finished their season with a 16-7 record.

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