Brett Bernier of A Battery, 4th Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Regiment, dunks in the first half of the game against 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command Monday night at Milam Gym. Photo by Stephen Baack.
At the buzzer: A/4 narrowly defeats 32nd AAMDC
Stephen Baack
Monitor Staff
Players from A Battery, 4th Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Regiment, swept past 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command with a game-winning shot at the buzzer in Monday night’s basketball game at Milam Gym.
A/4’s Brett Bernier saved his team at the last second with the shot, immediately after which he fell to the ground and was tackled by his screaming teammates, to finish off the game with a score of 47-46.
“I feel great,” said Bernier. “It was the game-winning shot. I’m at a loss for words. It was a great team effort.”
The game remained close throughout both 20-minute halves, with the teams staying almost constantly within a few points of one another from start to finish.
A/4 took command early with a strong start from team captain Mike Whalen, who was responsible for 17 of the 27 points his team scored in the first half – with all but one of Whalen’s goals being three-pointers. Bernier scored A/4’s remaining 10 points in the first half.
Thomas Reese, left, of 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense, takes a jump shot in the second half of a game against A Battery, 4th Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Regiment, Monday night at Milam Gym.
Photo by Ron Durand.
“We played hard,” Whalen said. “We had some key shots in the first half. I think I had five threes in the first half – that was big. In the second half we played good defense. They’re a great team. We didn’t take anything away from them. They played great.”
Goals from three players mostly comprised 32nd AAMDC’s first-half score, with Dion Boyd, Calvin Vaught and Howard Baity picking up most of the points from the start.
Boyd and Vaught produced strong results into the second half, putting 32nd AAMDC ahead of A/4. Boyd played particularly hard and gave A/4 a run for their money, scoring more than 15 points in the second half.
A/4’s Whalen continued his assault of three-pointers, but was joined by teammate Steven Brown, who nailed one of his own to tie up the game late in the second half at 44-44.
Though A/4 came in with a free throw, 32nd AAMDC called and raised with two of their own with 14.7 seconds to go – resulting in a 46-45 score in favor of 32nd.
Despite having scored nothing in the second half, Bernier shocked everyone with the game-winning, hail-Mary two-point finishing shot as he fell backward.
“I thought we lost it,” said Bernier, who said his team’s eventual win was a team effort on defense. “We had 14 seconds left when we were down by one. We brought it down the court and almost lost the ball twice. It was a free ball. I almost dove for it and then I realized that nobody was on my back. It was one dribble on the ground … I put it up and I actually saw it go in from the floor. It was the greatest feeling ever.”
Whalen said, aside from good overall team play, he attributes A/4’s success to good defense and ball movement.
“It was a pretty close game all the way through,” he said. “You don’t know how the game is going to come out until the end. We played two 20-minute halves, and we play until the buzzer goes. It just so happened that the shot fell for us tonight.”