‘I just sat there and cried.’ Buzzer-beater decides middle school state title

North Laurel Middle School defeated Elkhorn Middle School, 45-44, thanks to a put-back at the buzzer in the finals of the KBC Hoops 6th Grade Middle School State Tournament on Sunday in Lexington.

Elkhorn’s Leia Hogan took an inbound pass the length of the floor and converted a layup to give Elkhorn a 44-43 lead with about 10 seconds to play. North Laurel, which had no timeouts left, inbounded the ball to Bella Sizemore, who shot a floater over a defender with about three seconds left. Sizemore’s bounced off the back of the rim into the hands of teammate Halle Collins, who quickly got off a game-winning putback as time expired.

“I really didn’t think I was gonna hit it or get it off in time, but when I did, I just sat there and cried,” Collins said in an interview with KBC Hoops’ Marcellus Barksdale, who said the game was “one of best basketball games I’ve seen at any level.”

There were six lead changes in the final 50 seconds. North Laurel won six games over the course of two days to win the title.

All-tournament team information and game recaps will be available at kbchoops.com. Click here for a complete replay of the game.