There was no time left on the clock, but the game wasn’t over yet. The ball was hovering over the rim, waiting to fall. If it’s in, the game goes into overtime. If it doesn’t, Manhattan wins the game.

“What was going through my mind was how many buzzer-beaters we’ve absorbed this year,” head coach Benji George said. “That we’d paid our penance, and that one of them was going to come back and go our way.”

With the crowd holding its breath, the ball bounced up off the rim, and fell to the ground. As the Manhattan High bench erupted in celebration, the students followed suit, rushing the court to celebrate a 47-45 win over Washburn Rural.

With the win, MHS moves on to its first state tournament since 2010.

“We’ve been able to do what a lot of seniors don’t get to do,” senior Ian Trapp said, “and we get to take the next step on the journey. This isn’t the final goal, so we kind of got to take it with a grain of salt. [We can] be happy with it for a weekend, and then [we got to] move on and go take state.”

Washburn jumped out of the gate first, taking a 3-0 lead early in the game. Manhattan would answer, going on a 7-0 run. The Junior Blues were deadly from outside though, using four 3-pointers to take a 15-11 lead after the first quarter.

Defense was the name of the game for much of the second quarter, as a total of four points were scored in the first 5:45, all from Washburn.

“[Our defense] started out a little rough and everything,” senior Cade Roberts said, “but we came back. Washburn’s a tough team offensively … and we just stuck with them and battled back.”

Senior Trevor Hudgins finally got the lid off the basket, kickstarting his scoring. Hudgins scored six of Manhattan’s eight second quarter points, including a coast-to-coast layup as time expired to cut the Washburn lead to 22-19 at the half.

Hudgins finished the game with 16 points, leading the team. Senior Tommy Ekart added nine points, while junior Nate Awbrey scored eight off the bench.

The second half opened to a back-and-forth affair. MHS tied the game up at 25-all, before Washburn went on a small 5-0 run to take back the lead, continuing the trend of Manhattan trailing. Being down much of the game, the Indians had to look to their teammates to find the determination to keep fighting.

“I think we just battled,” Ekart said. “I really think some of the bond of this team has to do with that. We’ll fight for each other anytime, anywhere, and I think that really helped us tonight.”

Washburn was unable to pull away, and took a slim two-point lead into the final frame. Though MHS took a lead early in the quarter, the Junior Blues responded right away, taking back a lead they would hold for most of the quarter. Washburn’s lead would be as large as four points.

The lead was just one when Hudgins stepped to the line with :12.5 remaining in the game. Hudgins proceeded to sink both ends of a one-and-one, giving Manhattan a one-point advantage.

“I was just getting calm,” Hudgins said, “and I was just getting my mind right, acting like it was just an empty gym. I wasn’t hearing nothing that anybody was saying, I was just focused on the free throws, and I just wanted to knock them down for my team.”

The Junior Blues weren’t about to take that lying down though. Sprinting down the court, Washburn drove to the basket, looking for a layup to take back the lead. Hudgins would not allow it, blocking the shot. Trapp got the rebound, giving him an opportunity to ice the game.

“When I was on the line, I tried to treat it as normal as possible,” Trapp said. “[I tried] to block out everything and I didn’t try to think of it as any different situation than me hitting it in practice or anything like that.”

Trapp went one-for-two, meaning Manhattan had a slim two-point lead. Washburn rushed down the court again, driving to the hoop once more. A kickout pass to sophomore Jordan White would be the last pass of the game, as White threw up a shot from the free-throw lane as time expired. The ball bounced on the rim before falling to the floor, giving Manhattan the sub-state championship.

“I just wanted to get the [win] so bad,” Hudgins said. “I didn’t even see it bounce on the rim. I turned around because we’ve had so many buzzer-beaters on us that I just wanted to turn around, I didn’t want to see it.”

The win had a sense of redemption for Manhattan after it fell to Washburn 53-41 earlier in the year on the same court.

“Last time we knew we did not play good,” Ekart said, “and we knew they played like probably their best game they could play against us. It felt great to beat them.”

For Trapp, there was an extra sense of revenge. Trapp was the quarterback of the MHS football team that lost to Washburn in the playoffs earlier this school year.

“I’ve tried to move on from the football season,” Trapp said, “but it really feels good. If we had lost both to Washburn Rural, that really would have been not a good situation and I wouldn’t have felt good about that. I just wanted to focus on the basketball aspect of it coming in, and it really feels good to be able to get it done this season.”

The win also gives the Indians a chance to do what many high school athletes only dream of: to play in the state tournament.

“I told them that the state tournament is a great stage to play on,” George said. “So many great basketball players, never had a chance to play in the state tournament. I told them to stay humble, and enjoy the moment.”

For the seniors, this game will be the last time they play on their home court as a part of the team.

“It means everything to go out with a win like this,” Roberts said, “especially on our home court. This is what we’ve been fighting for, this is what we’ve [been] taught to do.”

For Hudgins, it doesn’t get much better than this.

“This is the best feeling ever,” Hudgins said. “This is probably [in the] top five of high school memories ever, probably the first one.”