Solomon Cooper’s 15-foot jumper with four seconds remaining in the game gave Myrtle Beach (SC) a 56-55 consolation bracket victory on Monday at the Beach Ball Classic.
In a game that was close throughout, the teams battled through six tied scores and 11 lead changes. The game was even tighter in the second half as both teams largest leads of five points came during the opening half. Myrtle Beach (8-4), which led 27-22 at halftime, held onto its lead until a five-point run capped by Jon Miller’s jumper with 6:36 to play gave Spring Valley (2-10) a 40-39 advantage.
The lead would change eight times over the closing five and a half minutes with neither team building more than a three-point cushion. Chris Adams grabbed a 55-54 lead for Spring Valley with 1:05 to play on a pair of free throws. Myrtle Beach crashed the boards on the ensuing possession as the Seahawks missed on a 3-point basket and layup but got a team rebound on one and Coleman Martini secured a rebound before calling a timeout with 32 seconds on the clock. After running the clock down to less than 10 seconds, Cooper drove to the right and hit the winning jumper with six seconds on the clock. Following a pair of timeouts, one by each team, Chris Adams’ long 3-pointer was wide left.
Cooper paced Myrtle Beach with a game-high 29 points, while Martini added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Seahawks. Spring Valley was paced by Jon Miller, who came off of the bench to score 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
