Chambers' buzzer-beater stuns Libbey as Chillicothe wins D-II title

By Mike Parris

March 15, 2008, 10:31AM

A crowd of 14,498 collectively held their breath as the ball hung on the rim and the buzzer pierced the deafening silence.

Ray Chambers' layup with under a second to play in overtime gave Chillicothe an improbable 70-69 victory over Toledo Libbey in the Division II State Championship at Ohio State's Value City Arena.

In a back-and-forth affair, it took an extra session and the full 36 minutes to determine a winner.

After Toledo Libbey's Julius Wells calmly sank two free thows with 5.1 seconds left to stake the Cowboys to a 69-68 lead, it was the heroics of Chambers and fellow senior standout Anthony Hitchens on the final memorable play.

Hitchens took a short inbound pass from under the Chillicothe basket and blazed his way down the court, weaving around Libbey defenders. At the Libbey free throw line, he delivered a perfect bounce pass to Chambers, whose lay-in bounced around the rim before finally dropping through the cylinder.

"It was crazy, man." said a jubilant Chambers after the game. "I just threw it up there. I thought I missed it."

The game featured two of Ohio's finest in Hitchens and Toledo Libbey's William Buford, recently named Mr. Basketball. The All-Ohioans were like prize fighters, trading haymakers until only one was left standing.

And that was Hitchens.

The electric Hitchens finished with 24 points, six rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Buford ended his high school career in style, delivering 29 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Chillicothe Head Coach Gary Kellough had nothing but praise for the two stars.

"Anthony is just a tremendous point guard," he said. "He's lightning off the dribble and he's got the ability to finish."

"And Buford, well, I'd like to have him on my team," he said with a smile. "He created so many problems for us."

Chillicothe jumped out to an early 7-4 lead, but Hitchens picked up two fouls in the first 2:30.

"I told coach don't take me out," said Hitchens. "I got two cheap ones early but I didn't want to be out of the game."

Kellough trusted his star, as Hitchens stayed in the game and remained effective. The 5-foot-9 dynamo tallied 4 points, two assists, and two steals in the first eight minutes but the Cavaliers found themselves behind on the scoreboard.

The pace quickened in the second quarter. Hitchens outran several Libbey defenders on the break and dished to forward Ray Chambers for a dunk to put Chillicothe back in the lead, but Buford responded with a driving layup seconds later and Wells hammered a two-handed dunk off a picturesque feed from Buford to spark a 7-0 Libbey run and 33-24 halftime advantage.

Lance Jones appeared to give Libbey all the momentum with 5:02 left in the third with an impressive driving dunk over a Chillicothe defender to stake the Cowboys to a 14-point lead. But a hustling Ray Chambers cut the Libbey lead to single digits at 44-35 after scooping up an offensive rebound and completing a three-point play several possessions later.

Chillicothe's comeback efforts continued and the Libbey lead dwindled to 49-45 on consecutive three pointers by Hitchens later in the quarter.

Hitchens hit two free throws to pull Chillicothe to within one at 56-55 with under four minutes remaining and then hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to put the Cavaliers in the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter.

"I thought our press energized us," Kellough said. "We were fortunate that when we got down big we were able to fight back and make some plays."

Hitchens no-look dish to Ron Smith under the basket yielded a layup and broke a 58-58 tie with just under a minute left. Ray Chambers added two free throws and Chillicothe led 62-58 heading down the stretch.

Buford wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet and drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 26.4 left to pull the Cowboys to within one at 62-61.

After Caleb Knights split a pair of free throws, Brad Sandridge stroked a 15-footer from the left wing with 2.4 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

The state title was the first in school history for Chillicothe who ended their season with a 25-2 record.

Kellough thinks its a monumental day for not only his team, but the entire community.

"It's been a long time since the city has had anything like this."