A dramatic buzzer-beating basket has earned the St. Mary Crusaders a berth in the 2026 provincial AA boys' high school basketball tournament.
St. Mary won the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference title Monday, 64-63, over the visiting King's Christian Cavaliers of Oakville.
Inbounding the ball under their own basket, the Crusaders trailed by a point with 6.5 seconds remaining. But a dribble-drive layup by Isaiah Johnson -- with a left-hand finish -- capped the scoring and created a mob scene of jubilant St. Mary players and fans.
The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic representatives will travel to Pembroke March 9-11 for the OFSAA championship event.
"It was an exciting experience," Johnson said of the victory. "The vibes were high. Everybody was jumping. "This was a great accomplishment for us."
Carmelo Castello-Martin took the inbounds pass and then relayed it to Johnson who slashed through a few defenders.
"When I looked up I saw 2 seconds," he said. "I realized I had time, so I went up."
St. Mary took a 20-point lead into the halftime break, but that advantage evaporated late in the fourth quarter.
"We gave up a little lead, but we stayed calm and composed," said Johnson, who scored 15 points in total. "We were strong even in the final seconds. This is what we practice for."
King's finally tied the score at 57 with two minutes remaining and then went ahead, 63-62, with 5.2 seconds showing on the clock. That was later changed by the referee to 6.5 seconds.
"I think it went down through the net," Cavaliers coach Eric Bulthuis said, "but there should have been 5.3 not 6.5 on the clock. So that one extra second made a big difference.
"They had to go the full length of the court ... we should have got the stop."
The Crusaders grabbed a 22-13 lead in the opening quarter, thanks largely to the outside shooting and rebounding of Ryan Harrington. He scored 11 points in the first eight minutes, including three baskets from behind the arc.
Harrington finished with 20 points and teammate Frank Nabutete added 15.
Michah Witton and Adonis Gooden were the leading scorers for King's -- OFSAA participants in each of the last two seasons.
The Cavaliers defeated St. Mary at GHAC last year to qualify for provincials.
"We got off to a slow start today," the King's coach said. "They hit a lot of 3s which put us behind early. We battled back, though, in the second half."
Bulthuis said his team cut the deficit -- going on a 12-0 run to end the third quarter -- by pressuring the ball more and attacking the rim.
"We had success going to the free-throw line and making layups," he added. "We didn't quite have enough."
St. Mary's coach Stephanie Demerjian said the win was a result of all the hard work the players have put in this season.
"And (Isaiah) showed up at the right time today," she said. "He's like a rock that our offence centres around. He's really good with those last-minute decision-making things."
St. Mary (6-8) ended up sixth in the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic regular-season standings. The Crusaders then dropped a 63-52 quarter-final playoff decision to the Bishop Ryan Celtics.
"Last year we lost by 10 or 15 to them (Cavaliers)," Johnson said. "This year we studied film and practised hard."
Other St. Mary players included Adriano Suarez, William Hogeterp, Jonathon Makarski, Phillip Tran and Raygan Lobo.
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