Sheldon Gardner’s free throw with 3.7 seconds remaining in the second four-minute overtime session afternoon Dec. 16, not only capped a magnum-opus effort by the junior, but proved the difference between hosting Dove Creek and visiting Monticello, Utah, in the 2023 Bulldog Classic’s boys’ third-place game.
Having buried a clutch three-pointer early in the second OT, putting the Buckaroos up 49-44, MHS sophomore Jackson Keyes unluckily fouled out trying to – and, from one visual angle, did – roof Gardner’s desperate close-range shot, and the Bulldog lefty maintained enough composure to convert one of two FTs and nab DCHS a 53-52 victory.
“Sheldon, what can I say? Kid’s a horse, an absolute monster. … To play the kind of minutes that he did, and do the kind of things that he did down low, just speaks to his character, his strength. And it speaks to who he is as a person; just like the team, I’m so proud of him,” said Dove Creek head coach Ian MacLaren.
“This was a gut-check win. The kind of win that builds character, the kind of win that launches a program to a place that we want to be,” he said. “There were so many times in that game where we could have laid down, so many times we could have given in, but didn’t do it.”
“When we went scoreless – both teams – for about the first four minutes of the game, I said ‘First one to score wins,’” Monticello head coach Josh Keyes said. “You know, at the end of the day … I never saw the game coming out like that! But I can’t be more proud of my kids; it was one point … just who had the ball last.”
“Credit Dove Creek,” he added. “They played really intensely as well; Gardner’s just a good player.”
An exhausted 9-of-18 from the charity stripe, Gardner was better than good overall. Two of his game-high 27 points came via an alert, buzzer-beating put-back – senior Aiden Chadd (4 points) missed the second half of a two-FT bonus with 0:01.8 left in the third quarter – at last erasing a 22-16 halftime deficit and sending the game into the fourth knotted at 28-28.
As if there hadn’t been enough drama already; MHS senior Mason Atwood had beaten the first quarter buzzer with an incredible shoulder-height heave beneath Chadd’s outstretched arm from just outside the Buckaroos’ own three-point arc, and sophomore Kooper Nielson ended the second quarter with a straightaway trey immediately countering a Gardner three-point play. Still the Bulldogs, who’d trailed 12-6 after the opening frame, put more on the table.
Gardner’s inside basket with 6:44 remaining in regulation gave Dove Creek (2-6 overall, 0-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin) a 30-28 lead, but MHS senior Curtis Bunker’s three-pointer with 3:09 left put the Buckaroos up 34-32. Ahead 36-32 after a Bunker bucket inside, Monticello suffered a big blow when Atwood (5 points) fouled out defending Gardner with 2:09 to go. But Dove Creek couldn’t take full advantage, and after senior Gage Buffington (9 points) missed a last-ditch three-pointer over MHS junior Kaden Pehrson, the interstate affair went into bonus-ball mode tied 38-38.
Despite junior Liam Hassell (10 points) fouling out with 3:42 left in the initial overtime, DCHS still had hope after Bunker’s attempted buzzer-beating trey was unsuccessful – leaving the teams deadlocked at 44. Dove Creek sophomore reserve Trevan Ivie missed both free throws after Bunker (20 points, 8-14 FT) fouled out with 2:25 left in the second OT, but Bulldog sophomore Josh Kibel (3 points) made one of two with 1:16 remaining to re-tie at 50-50.
Gardner and MHS junior Traken Lee (12 points) then swapped two-pointers, and MacLaren used a timeout with 28.6 seconds remaining to plan for either a much-needed win or a third overtime.
“This is the kind of game, obviously, you want to come out on top in, but this will be something that’ll help both teams down the road,” he said. “And all credit to Monticello; they gave us everything that we could handle and more. That’s a quality program; Coach Keyes does a great job, and they didn’t lay down either – it’s called the ‘Border War’ for a reason!”
Dove Creek was 17-of-37 from the foul line; Monticello (2-7 overall, 0-0 UHSAA 1A Region 19) finished 11-of-22.
The Bulldogs will next see action on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, when they travel to Nucla. DCHS’ scheduled trip to Monticello is set for Tuesday, Jan. 23.
