Maybe it was pure luck. Maybe it was a mix of luck and skill. Whatever it was, West Michigan Flight AAU player Zack Zenner’s buzzer beater at the end of a quarter of a recent Flight game has to be on any list of best buzzer beaters of 2013.
As you can see in the video above, which was first brought to Prep Rally’s attention by Bob’s Blitz, Zenner was the unwitting recipient of a desperation pass from a teammate following an inbounds pass behind the basket with just seconds remaining in a quarter.
While the original recipient of the inbounds pass was in a perfectly decent shooting position behind the 3-point arc, he instead threw up a flailing pass to Zenner who was farther out and, in fact, barely in bounds. Without time or balance to think, Zenner pulled in the surprising pass to him and tossed up a heave of a shot while collapsing toward the sideline.
Clearly, he was just trying to keep the ball in play. Incredibly, he hit a shot that will clearly go down in Flight lore.
As you can hear from the video, the videographer in the crowd was immediately asked if she had captured the shot, which she excitedly had.
According to a Twitter conversation between the blog Last Angry Fan and Zenner himself, the budding prep star scored 15 points in the game. He couldn’t remember which tournament the game was played in, or where the opponent was from (hey, lay off, he’s a teenager), but he did remember they were called the Rockets.
No matter where it came from, Zenner’s buzzer beater is clearly one of the shots of the season, and will be no matter what comes in the days and weeks ahead.
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