Adell comes back from injury to hit game-winning jumper

by Rob Peirce
THE POST

It was almost as if forward Sanjay Adell had locked radar on the basket.

His shot floated in mid-air for just a few seconds in game time, but in sportswriter time, it was practically a millenia.

Adell's shot finally fell through, giving Ohio a 69-68 Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal victory against Kent at Gund Arena in Cleveland.

With 12.1 seconds remaining and facing a one-point deficit, forward Shaun Stonerook brought the ball up to send another last-chance opportunity in motion.

Kent forced a jump ball, but the Bobcats owned the possession arrow.

Head Coach Larry Hunter called it the "Phantom Play."

"It was a difficult shot," he said. "He was aggressive to the hole. He didn't fall away. I remember it as being poetic justice."

The win was justice for the Bobcats because they had lost several close games on buzzer beaters against Kent in recent years.

The shot was even more spectacular because Adell injured his shoulder in the game. Minutes into the second half, Adell left the line-up after re-aggravating a shoulder injury.

"It was like, 'It happened again,'" Adell said in a March 6 Post article. "It was just a little pain in there, nothing more than that. The only reason I was out for awhile was because we had some guys in there who were playing well together and executing well together."

The shot allowed Ohio to advance to the quarterfinal round of the tournament, but the Bobcats fell to Ball State, 70-67, in the next game.

"That was a terrific win for our team," Hunter said. "It really felt like we were on a roll to win the tournament."

As far as clutch shots go, Adell's is near the top of Hunter's list - partially because it happened in a tournament game, he said.

"In those situations, you roll the dice and hope your people come through," he said.