If you need a buzzer-beater, who are you going to call?
Vince Doering.
The Manhattan High boys’ basketball senior recorded his second game-winning shot in less than a week on Wednesday night. Doering drilled a moving, acrobatic 3-pointer at the horn, sending Manhattan to a 58-56 playoff-opening win over Wichita Northwest.
“The plan was the same play as Washburn — they cut me off this time, though,” Doering said of the game-winner. “It felt pretty good off the hand. Definitely not the shot that we wanted. But I’ll take it.
“In my mind, I was putting that ball up — no matter what.”
It should be no surprise that Manhattan’s playoff journey started the same way so many of its games have this season.
It was the eighth one-possession win for the Indians this year, coming after the regular-season finale last week, when Doering hit a buzzer-beating layup at Washburn Rural. The play call for an attack to the rim was the same, but as Northwest forced him wide, Doering pulled up from deep — and saved Manhattan’s season with the make.
