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ASHDOWN, Ark. – Friday night marked senior night for the Ashdown boy’s basketball team.
It’s a night special for so many reasons, but head coach Roy Backus wanted to celebrate a certain senior, team manager Makhi “Man-Man” Lewis, in a unique way: getting him in the game.
“We had been talking about it, I’ve been trying to get him in a game, he’s kinda been doing some fundamentals and skill stuff with us out there, so I’ve been trying to get him in a game,” Backus said. “He says ‘not yet,’ he’s flicking his hand, not ready yet. I said I think you’re ready to go.”
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At that moment, Backus decided to concoct a plan with Smackover’s head coach to get Makhi some minutes in the game.
“Smackover’s Coach Wallace said, ‘Coach, I’m gonna get him a shot right off the top.’ I said ‘sounds good, coach.’ We get the jump ball, man-man is dribbling it down there, gets to the top of the key, he’s a corner shooter in my mind, but man-man wanted to shoot at the top of the key, ball goes up, and the ball had a hard time even hitting the floor. Airball,” Backus said.
Sadly, Makhi didn’t make his first shot, so the game went on. However, as the game got into the fourth quarter, the student section was restless. They wanted to see Makhi back on the court.
“They started to get the chant, Man-Man, we want Man-Man, Man-Man is across the way doing ‘no, no,'” Backus said.
However, Makhi had the opportunity in the end of the fourth quarter to get back into the game. With about a minute and 30 seconds to go, he checked back into the matchup.
“I had to get my shot after that one, after the air ball, I said, ‘let me get one,'” Makhi said.
Time was running out though, with less than 15 seconds on the clock, Makhi finally got his chance.
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However, it wasn’t thanks to his own teammate; it was one of Smackover’s players, Bricen Askew.
“I just wanted to get the rebound and pass it to him to let him shoot,” Askew said.
Shoot, he did, but Makhi missed his first attempt.
“He didn’t make the first one, and I just wanted to keep letting him shoot until he made it. I really wanted him to make that shot,” Askew said.
So Bricen got it out to him again, but the second try was also no good.
With about two seconds left on the clock, Bricen was able to get Makhi the ball for one last shot.
“I think he was gonna make the last one, as soon as it left his hands, I said, he’s gonna make it,” Askew said.
And he did make it.
The buzzer-beater three caused the entire student section to rush the court.
“Everybody was running towards me, I was like, oh my,” Makhi said.
“Even through the loss, it was one of the biggest moments of my life, just watching him and knowing the kind of character kid he is,” Backus said.
After all the fanfare was over and the crowd had died down, Makhi still had a job to do.
“I went back to being a manager, picking up the water, just doing my manager job,” Makhi said.
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