Ashley, Findlay Prep rally from 18-point deficit to win NHSI title

Montverde (Fla.) Academy looked to be well on its way to the National High School Invitational title on Saturday.

Somebody forgot to tell Brandon Ashley and Findlay Prep.

The Pilots trailed by 18 points with 5:08 to go in regulation before Ashley led a furious comeback, and the Pilots ended up with an 86-83 overtime win at Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Md.

“I don’t know where to begin,” Findlay Prep coach Michael Peck said. “I’ve probably got to watch it to make sense of it. Right now, it’s like, 'Is that even possible mathematically?’ ”

Nigel Williams-Goss hit a floater in the lane with 15 seconds to play to give Findlay Prep (32-1) an 84-83 lead, and Winston Shepard made a pair of free throws with two seconds left for the final margin.
Montverde (23-4) had a final shot, but D’Angelo Russell’s 3-pointer from the left wing was short at the buzzer.

Ashley hit a pair of free throws with 20.5 seconds to play in regulation to tie the game at 76. Ashley had 16 points in the fourth quarter, including 12 in the final 2:12 of the period.

The 6-foot-9-inch senior, who signed with Arizona, finished with 31 points. He was 9-for-12 from the field and 13-for-14 from the free-throw line.

“He put the cape on and he did what we knew he could do and is supposed to do, to be honest,” Peck said. “That’s what he’s supposed to do.”

It was Findlay Prep’s third NHSI title. The Pilots, ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today, previously won in 2009 and 2010. This year’s NHSI field did not include top-ranked Oak Hill (Va.) Academy (44-0).

Findlay Prep, which was down 65-47 three minutes into fourth quarter, turned up the defensive pressure down the stretch. The Pilots forced 10 fourth-quarter turnovers to help fuel the comeback.

“Our guys did a great job of getting tips and deflections and using our length,” Peck said.

The Eagles, who had four players foul out in the fourth quarter, had no answer for Ashley inside. He consistently bulled his way to the basket for either a bucket or a foul. He missed only one shot after halftime.

“He just knew what he had to do, and they didn’t double (team) and he just went to work and kept it fairly simple,” Peck said.

Findlay Prep didn’t miss a shot in overtime, going 3-for-3 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line.
A pair of free throws by senior Anthony Bennett with 1:26 to go in the extra period gave the Pilots an 80-78 lead, their first since early in the first quarter.

A Bennett dunk put Findlay Prep up 82-80 with 1:15 to play, but Russell, a sophomore who didn’t play until late in the fourth quarter, hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to give Montverde an 83-82 advantage with 43 seconds to go.

Williams-Goss then split the top of Montverde’s 2-3 zone and hit the teardrop in the lane to give the Pilots the lead for good.

Williams-Goss, a junior, had 17 points and was 6-for-10 from the field. Bennett had 13 points, and Shepard and Dominic Artis each scored 10 for Findlay Prep.

Montverde junior Kasey Hill, who has committed to Florida, scored 23 points. He had nine points in the first four minutes of the game to help the Eagles jump out to a 14-4 lead.

“They were the aggressor out of the gate,” Peck said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth and we were kind of surprised and shell shocked and just kind of took it. It was like everybody was waiting for the other guy to do it, and nobody was doing it. But at some point the switch went on and guys started doing it and got it done.”