McKinstry's buzzer-beater lifts Indians to final four
JACKSONVILLE — GaQuincy “Koolaid” McKinstry has dreamed of this moment his entire life.
So when Kam Woods’ shot clanged off the back iron directly to him, he knew what to do with it.
He sank a mid-range jumper as time expired to lift the Pinson Valley High School boys basketball team to a 63-61 win over Huffman on Wednesday afternoon in the Class 6A Northeast Regional final at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
With the win, the Indians advance to their first state final four in school history.
“I saw Kam get all the way down the court and I saw him go behind his back, that’s his favorite move to shoot,” McKinstry said. “It went up, and I was just crashing the glass. I thought it was going in but it bounced straight to me and I put it up real fast.”
The shot capped off a wild game-ending sequence that began when Huffman’s Jamal Mott sank a 3-pointer out of a timeout with 12 seconds to play.
“We drew up a good play, executed it and made the shot,” Huffman head coach Steve Ward said.
But Darrell Barber knew he didn’t need to call a timeout in the final moments. He’s put his team through the same scenario countless times this season.
“At practice every day, before we start practice, we have a game-winning shot we have to make,” said Barber, who is in his first year as coach at Pinson Valley. “We put ourselves in that situation often.”
Pinson Valley (22-9) didn’t panic when Huffman (21-8) tied the game for the first time since the final seconds of the first half. The Indians very easily could’ve succumbed to the pressure after committing a handful of turnovers in the final minutes.
“We often talk about that throughout the season,” Barber said. “We’ve been in adverse situations, everyone counted us out when we lost three in a row. We kept our composure.”
Woods finished with a game-high 29 points. He scored 10 points in the first half, but a shoe change in the locker room set the stage for the second half, as he scored 12 points in a big third quarter that saw the Indians stretch the lead to as many as 10 points.
Woods was dynamic down the stretch as well. Twice in the fourth, Huffman cut the lead to two points, and Woods responded with a bucket of his own. He scored the Indians’ final seven points before McKinstry’s game-winner.
“I knew it had to start with me leading my team,” he said. “I didn’t want to go home. I wouldn’t have been able to handle that. I had to get the victory for the seniors and everybody else.”
Barber had the whole Pinson Valley team accompany him to the postgame press conference. As the senior group’s third coach in four years, he spoke glowingly of his seniors.
“They’ve been through a lot,” he said. “To accept me to come in and coach them and take a back seat to some of these guys like Kam and Koolaid and still respond the way they do, it speaks volumes for who we are as a team.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that saw Pinson Valley take a 17-16 edge after a quarter of play, before the lead changed hands six times in the second quarter. The Indians took a 34-33 halftime edge and extended the lead to double digits before Huffman cut the edge to 52-47 after three quarters.
For the contest, McKinstry finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Pollard was a beast down low, hauling in 13 rebounds and blocking three shots. Michael Lockhart scored 13 points to lead Huffman, while Eddie Smith scored 12 points.
The game marked the Indians’ first appearance in a regional final in program history. Pinson Valley will take on Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa in its first-ever state semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 1:30 p.m. at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena in the 6A semifinals.
McKinstry said that he and his teammates are prepared to continue defying the odds.
“Last year when we lost here, a lot of people said I wasn’t ready, I was scared, I can’t do this on a big stage,” the sophomore guard said. “This proved that when it was time to play, I can play.”
He proved it, to be sure.
“Game winner, that’s big right there,” Woods said of his teammate.