Rodney Purvis has spent nearly his entire prep career one of the nation's most highly sought after prospects. Even after picking North Carolina State as his future destination, the number six overall prospect in the Class of 2012 still gets more attention than almost any other player in the country, both from the press and defenders on the court.
All of that makes what he accomplished on Friday even more incredible: Purvis channeled his inner Reggie Miller to score 6 points in fewer than 5 seconds to hand his Raleigh (N.C.) Upper Room Christian Academy squad a dramatic, 95-94 win against Ironton (Ohio) High.
As you can see in the video above and documented in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, Purvis' six points came in a rather unconventional manner. With Upper Room trailing by five, Purvis pulled up from the three-point line and drew a foul. He walked to the free throw line and calmly stroked his first two attempts, then intentionally missed the third with the hope of getting the ball back with a chance to tie.
That didn't work out, as Upper Room was called for a lane violation, giving Ironton an inbounds play under the basket. Yet Ironton couldn't use that to salt away the game, instead botching a set play and turning the ball back over to Upper Room under the basket.
You can almost guess what happened next: Purvis got the inbounds pass and nailed a three with just 0.9 seconds remaining, on which he was fouled. He hit the subsequent free throw to give Upper Room a one-point lead. And then, just to put the icing on the proverbial cake, he blocked a buzzer-beater attempt from Ironton that could have sent Upper Room to a loss.
That's a good five second's work, huh?
All told, Purvis finished with 32 points in the game, more than one-third of his team's total. He scored the game's final eight points, improving Upper Room's record to 14-9 in the 2011-12 season. Incredibly, Purvis did all of that while walking a careful line in foul trouble; he picked up a second foul in the first quarter and his third with 6:30 remaining in the first half, yet never actually left the court.
It's a good thing that Purvis avoided further fouls after that. Two more fouls would have robbed everyone of one of the more incredible one-man finishes to one of the more offensive games of the 2011-12 season.
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