Panthers beat VASJ on a buzzer-beater

While most Northeast Ohio sports fans—and sportswriters—were focused on the big high school state football championship game down in Canton in early December, two area basketball teams staged an “instant classic” that went practically unnoticed.

In front of a large crowd in the Euclid High gym on Dec. 4, the host Panthers survived a see-saw battle against neighborhood rival Villa Angela-St. Joseph, eking out a 55-54 victory in a game with a storybook finish.

The evening’s unlikely hero for Euclid was a substitute player by the name of Don Won Demore, who sank only one basket all night. But what a shot it was—a buzzer-beating three pointer off the backboard as time expired. As the scoreboard clock approached the 0:00 mark, Demore, a six-foot junior who entered the contest when Arthur Cook fouled out, let loose with a shot that area basketball fans may be talking about for years to come. And, importantly from the Panthers’ standpoint, he sent the home crowd home in a happy mood.

Unfortunately, from the perspective of the visiting VASJ Vikings, it meant a heart-breaking loss in the head coaching debut of Babe Kwasniak. A former star player for the Vikings, Babe is the son of Tedd Kwasniak who coached the team to two state championships—in 1994 and 1995.

Still, for the Vikings, battling a highly regarded Division I team right down to the wire was no small accomplishment. And the effort bodes well for the future of the VASJ program—at least, after 6-7 sophomore phenom DeMonte Flannigan gets back into the swing of things. (Flannigan, who didn’t play against Euclid, returned to the lineup for the Dec. 10 game against Chanel.)

After the game, the mood was upbeat in the Panther lockerroom as third-year head coach Andy Suttell and his staff rehashed the events of the evening. Suttell said he wasn’t entirely surprised by Don Won Demore’s late game heroics.

“He’s a good shooter,” the coach emphasized. “And up to that point, we were something like 0-for-20 on three-point shots. I thought we might be due to hit one.

“We decided to space the floor and see if we could find a shooter,” Suttell added. “And we did.”

Of course, a basketball game entails more than one big shot—and there were plenty of them on this recent wintry night. With a little more than two minutes left in the game, and the score tied, the Panthers’ Martel Madley scored to put Euclid in front, 51-49. A six-foot senior, Madley finished the night as the Panthers’ top scorer with 15 points.

Shortly thereafter, the Vikings’ Karlton Garner nailed a three-pointer from the right wing to put VASJ back on top, 52-51. A Madley free throw knotted the score again before Dahuntae Parish hit one from the charity stripe to regain the lead for VASJ, 53-52. (Free throws, as it turned out, proved to be a huge factor in the final outcome, as Euclid connected on 20 of 24 shots from the foul line while the VASJ shooters hit on just eight of 20.) 

With 31 seconds left in the game, the Vikings’ Duane Gibson was fouled. He hit his first free throw to put VASJ up by 54-52, but the second rattled off the rim.

As the Panthers brought the ball back up court, the VASJ fans launched a familiar chant: “Defense! … Defense!” At that point, Darryl Jones, who starred at quarterback for the Viking football team, obliged with yet another steal and soon found himself at the foul line. But he, too, was unable to find his shooting touch, thus setting the stage for Demore’s big finish.

The victory in this classic installment in the long neighborhood rivalry, coming on the heels of a 73-63 triumph over Lorain the night before, gave Euclid a 2-0 record on the year. In addition to Madley, the top scorers for Euclid were Chuck Bradford with 12 points and Je’Land Head with 10. 

For VASJ, Karlton Garner and Dahunte Parrish set the pace against the Panthers with 13 points each, while Duane Gibson chipped in 12. Four nights later, Gibson topped all scorers with 24 as the Vikings lost their home opener to Beachwood, 65-59, to begin their season with a 0-2 mark.

On Dec. 10, DeMonte Flannigan was back in uniform and led VASJ in scoring with 17 points against No. 12-ranked St. Peter Chanel; but the Vikings again failed to notch their first victory, losing another heartbreaker by a 46-42 score. Coach Kwasniak’s squad raced out to a 23-16 halftime lead, but stumbled down the stretch against the No. 12-ranked Firebirds.

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