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McCabe's late-game heriocs lift Kaukauna past Milwaukee Washington in D2 title-game thriller

03/17/2018, 10:00pm CDT
By Mark Miller

Jordan McCabe says he suffers from short-term memory loss.

Good thing. 

The 6-foot-0 Kaukauna senior point guard and Mr. Basketball-award winner missed 13 of the 16 shots he took from the field during the first half of the Ghosts' WIAA Division 2 state-title game Saturday against extremely talented Milwaukee Washington.

But with the game on the line, McCabe came through with flying colors.

McCabe pulled up for two deep three-point shots and made both in the span of 22 seconds, and then made the game-winning, contested, twisting layup with four seconds left (video below) to help the Ghosts notch a 76-74 triumph in a game that featured six ties and five lead changes.

McCabe's first triple came with 1:10 left and tied the score at 71. After Washington's Deontay Long (6-5) scored on the other end to make it 73-71, McCabe again connected from deep to give the Ghosts a 74-73 lead.

After Long, who finished with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists, split a pair of charity tosses, McCabe went to work, driving to his left and finishing over a couple of Washington defenders to give Kaukauna a 76-74 lead.

After Washington advanced the ball to the frontcourt and called a timeout with :01.3 left, the Purgolders inbounded the ball to freshman phenom Michael Foster Jr. (6-9). Foster attempted a contested three-point shot that was well off the mark (video below) as Kaukauna celebrated its second Division 2 state title in the past three seasons.

McCabe finished 10 of 33 from the field and 7 of 21 from three-point range while also making 5 of 7 free throw attempts to finish with 32 points.

"In terms of how my mind works, I have short-term memory loss and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," McCabe said. "Usually, assistant coach Ryan Bowers will tell me during a timeout if it's a good or bad thing. I just always tell myself that shooters shoot."

On the game-winning play, Kaukauna coach Mike Schalow knew having the ball in the hands of his best player would turn out to be a good thing.

"We knew coming into the game tonight that it would be a tough one with all of the length, size and athleticism Washington has," Schalow said. "Jordan made a good play out of a flat 1-4 to give us the team at the end. It was two teams getting after it and giving it their all to win the championship."

Moments prior to McCabe's two triples, sophomore Keaton Ferris (5-10) buried a pair of three-point shots of his own from the left baseline. Ferris finished with 14 points and made four three-point shots. Senior Eric Carl (6-5) added 16 for the Ghosts, who finish the season with a 25-3 record.

"Nothing would happen if Jordan didn't get me the ball," Ferris said. "I think he's the best point guard in the country, hands down. When I get it going, I have a feeling like I can't miss."

Washington, which went 24-4 under coach Freddie Riley, got monster performances from both Long and Foster. Besides Long's 24 points, Foster had 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

"It was an exciting finish ... very exciting finish," Riley said. "Interesting finish, too, needless to say."

Riley felt his team did not get some calls late in the game that would have kept the Purgolders going to the foul line since they were in the double bonus.

"We spread the floor and were not going to take anything but a layup, but when our guys made a move to the basket and the defenders had their hands on them, we didn't get the call," Riley said. "If you have your hands on a player, then take it away, and then put it back, it's supposed to be an automatic foul. But that didn't happen tonight.

"But Kaukauna shot the ball well in the second half. They did a very good job of knocking down shots."


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