Reduced to its core, the high school basketball postseason comes down to moments. Memories are made, legacies born, dreams dashed — all three at the same time, in many cases. Last year’s WMass Div. 4 boys hoop tournament proved to be the very definition of moments creating memories.
On a historic run to its first sectional title since 2000, Pioneer Valley Regional School delivered on the dramatics. Had one particular moment not gone in their favor, the overriding theme of the Panthers’ season would’ve been remarkably different. But that’s how it works come late February and early March — one play can change the course of history.
As the postseason seeds for the 2019 tourney are released this weekend, teams throughout the area begin their journey toward making memories of their own. A year removed from one of the most memorable plays in Franklin County history, we look back on Garrett Cote’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer in Pioneer’s 69-68 semifinal victory over Drury.
It was a shot that ultimately lifted Pioneer to its fifth WMass title in program history. A play that is still remembered fondly one year later. But as is always the case in late-game situations, a sizable series of events had to break right for Cote and the Panthers to be in position to win the game at the end of regulation. Cote and Pioneer coach Scott Thayer admit that the stars aligned in a big way late, leading to Cote’s improbable shot, which altered the path of Pioneer’s season and buoyed them into another standout winter this time around with eyes set on repeating as Div. 4 champions.
March 5, 2018 — WMass Div. 4 semifinal between No. 3 Pioneer and No. 2 Drury at the Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass
Pioneer trailed by 12 points at halftime, but rallied and ultimately took a four-point lead in the fourth quarter. Drury quickly recovered after giving up the lead, and went back in front, 64-59, following a 3-pointer by Chad Lawrence. The Panthers, meanwhile, turned the ball over on three straight possessions, and a foul with 1 minute, 56 seconds to play sent Max Daugherty to the line with the chance to extend it. He knocked down the first, but missed the second and it was an omen of things to come, as Drury went just 4-of-9 from the free throw line in the final two minutes.
THAYER: Well, a lot of things led up to it.
COTE: Everything kind of fell perfectly into place for us.
Drury 66, Pioneer 61, 49 seconds left
Drury’s inability to put the game out of reach looms large. Cote hits a 3-pointer with 49 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 66-64. Drury star Reece Racette dribbles the ball off his foot on the ensuing possession, leading to a jump ball and Pioneer taking possession. Jordan Loughman was immediately fouled following the inbounds, and went to the line with 42 seconds to play with the chance to tie it. Despite struggling for much of the night — he was 0-for-2 from the line to that point and had been held scoreless — Loughman came through in the clutch and knocked down both free throws to tie the game at 66-66.
Drury took over with a chance to go back in front but Pioneer’s Brendan Emond blocked Scott McGuire Jr., sending Pioneer up the floor with its own opportunity to go in front with the shot clock turned off. Cote rushed up the floor, and tried to attack the hoop and send a pass to Emond through traffic, but the ball went off a defender and bounced to Lawrence, who was inadvertently fouled with 19 seconds left. He went to the line and knocked down both to put Drury ahead, 68-66.
Down the other end, Pioneer missed two shots at tying the game, ultimately fouling Racette with 5.3 seconds remaining.
COTE: (Racette’s) a great free throw shooter. I figured he’d make at least one.
Drury 68, Pioneer 66, 5.3 seconds left
THAYER: We’ve got to have a miss to have an opportunity. He makes both and the game is probably over. He’s probably 80, 85 percent from the line.
Racette misses the first free throw, and on his second attempt, steps into the lane early and is whistled for a lane violation. Dead ball, Pioneer ball with the clock still at 5.3 seconds.
COTE: When he missed the first, I definitely thought, ‘we have a shot.’ That’s all we needed, just to have a shot. We always talk at practice, in close games where we aren’t supposed to win, when it gets to the end of the game, it can go to either team. Just give us a chance.
The lane violation proved key. With the clock stopped, Pioneer is able to set up a final play with a chance to either tie the game and force overtime, or win it on a 3-pointer.
THAYER: If you really delve into the play, missing that second free throw and the lane violation, it’s another thing that broke our way. If it’s a miss and a live ball, would we have been able to function out of a live ball? Dead ball, we knew what we wanted to get accomplished.
There’s no timeout following the violation. Instead, the team sets up a final play while the ball is being reset by the officials.
THAYER: I think we just called (the play) home run, but you’d have to ask Garrett. He’d remember.
COTE: We didn’t have a name for the play. We all kind of looked at each other and were on the same page. Literally the day before at practice, we had worked on that play so we set it up and were ready for it.
Knowing what play to run was one thing. But the odds of that particular play working weren’t exactly high, according to player and coach.
THAYER: Throughout the year, the play never ran the way we wanted it to run.
COTE: In practice it didn’t work out too well. I think we tried it one other game right before halftime and it didn’t work at all. But we just had to go with it. We were used to running it, it just hadn’t worked in the past. But on the biggest stage? Hopefully, it’ll work for us one time.
Loughman inbounded the ball to Cote, who caught the pass on the run around his own foul line. He headed to the right, receiving a screen from Karl Wheeler to gain some space. Cote motored up the floor, pulling up to a spot in the middle of the floor just behind the 3-point line. With Racette covering him, Cote used a pump-fake to get his defender in the air. That’s when he pulled up, fired and drilled the game-winning shot as the final buzzer sounded. A photo from Recorder photographer Dan Little showed Cote releasing the ball with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock above the scoreboard.
FINAL: Pioneer 69, Drury 68
COTE: I wanted the ball in my hands. Not necessarily to take the shot, but I’m really confident in my abilities to make a play. If someone else was open, I’d kick it to them. Mike Menard was flashing to the corner, Brendan was flashing to the high post… there were options there but with the time and everything, I figured the best option was to shoot it. I was confident in myself.
THAYER: The play ran the way it was supposed to run, but Garrett still had to have the presence of mind to pump fake, get Racette off his feet, get the shot off. When you look back at it now, it was the perfect storm. Things had to set up right, things have to go perfectly, and then, Oh yeah, he still has to make the shot.
COTE: I remember lining up to get the inbounds pass, but right at that moment, everything kind of blanked. I’ve watched the video but everything kind of blanked for me.
The Panthers chased after and eventually consumed Cote, who took off for the far end of the floor after hitting the game-winner and could only untuck his black lucky No. 13 jersey before being mobbed. Thayer raised his left arm in the air and pumped his fist following the bucket before high-fiving assistant coach Fred Redeker. The euphoric black-and-gold faithful from Northfield jumped for joy in the stands. The student section spilled out onto the parquet floor.
COTE: It was absolutely insane. I think the gym, looking back and watching that game, was probably 80 percent Pioneer (fans). We had everybody there. We hadn’t been (to the Cage) in so long, 18 years, so everybody was on our side. We had great fan support throughout our tournament run. I remember running to the other side of the court after I made it. Mike (Menard) took off for the fans, we all kind of followed.
Cote finished with a career-high 32 points in the victory, a true coming-out party for the junior point guard who averaged 11.2 points per game entering the night.
THAYER: He had 32 points in that game. Not only hitting the shot, but it was a breakout game leadership-wise and all that as well. We needed all 32 of those points. If you look back at his season, I don’t think he had a game over 20.
COTE: I think I was averaging less than 15 points a game so that kind of just sparked everything.
THAYER: It’s kind of the maturation of what happened the rest of the way. Then in the championship game, he had zero (points) at halftime. He ended up with 14.
After celebrating with his fellow Pioneer students and teammates, Cote settled in to watch the first half of the night’s second semifinal between Hopkins Academy and Ware. While the idea was to scout the team’s future WMass title-game opponent, concentrating on the action on the floor was not an easy endeavor.
COTE: That whole 16 minutes of game time, I really didn’t get to watch the game because my phone was filling up with people texting me. I actually wound up having to shut it off, I didn’t want to deal with it. We left at halftime and on the bus, I actually took a nap. Mentally, we put so much into that game because we were so prepared for it. I was exhausted. I think Karl woke me up when we got back to the school.
Five days later, Pioneer finished the job. In the Div. 4 title game, the Panthers held off three-time defending champion Hopkins, 59-53, to bring some hardware back to Messer Gymnasium.
THAYER: After the (Drury game), the message was, ‘Live in the moment, enjoy this,’ but you also talk about where it propelled you to. Winning that game got us to, “Why not? Why can’t it be us now?” Don’t just go into it thinking we just made the finals. Go into it saying, ‘Why can’t we win?’
COTE: Confidence was the main thing. I’ve had confidence in myself throughout my career, but really after that (shot), realizing what I was capable of. I’d never had a game like that before. It really shocked me what I was able to do.
Fast-forward a year, and the Panthers, with Cote (20.4 ppg) leading the charge, won the Hampshire League South Division and should be a top 3 seed in next week’s Div. 4 tourney.
THAYER: We constantly talk about what if we miss that shot, how the narrative would’ve changed. People who coach and write about sports, you think about all the great things that happen in the last second of games that change the narratives. A lot leads up to those moments, obviously. In our case, Garrett made the shot so that’s the narrative here. But it makes you appreciate it more.
A year later, Cote’s winning shot has translated into sustained success for the program.
COTE: I haven’t watched it in awhile. After it happened and after the season last year, I watched the video a lot. But ever since this year started, I’ve tried to kind of put it behind me. Coach brought it up one time probably this year at practice, as motivation. If it doesn’t go in, our season ends there in a close game and how different everything would’ve been. You just use it as motivation. It can take one play, but the little things leading up to that one play are what we’re focused on now trying to go out and win it again. Everyone on this team believes in each other, just like last year’s team.