BUFORD — New Hampstead's O'ronte Anderson may have been the star on Thursday -- but it was Buford's Alex Jones that stole the show.
And as dominant as Anderson's 33-point performance proved, the two teams' Class AAAAA second round playoff game will be forever remembered for Jones' last-second jump shot, as the Wolves' guard drained the game-winner at the buzzer to send Buford to a 69-68 victory.
Jones' clutch 12-footer also pushed Buford back into the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2014.
"It was quite the finish. Alex just drove the lane, they cut him off and he hit that turnaround jumper; it was an incredible play," Wolves coach Eddie Martin said. "It was an incredible game, back and forth the whole way, nip and tuck. It just came down to who had the ball last."
Buford did its best to ensure that was not Anderson, but the New Hampstead senior would not be denied on what proved his final possession, evading an attentive Wolves defense to drill a 3-pointer that put the Phoenix up 68-67 with 10 seconds remaining.
"We trapped him to get him to give the ball up, and he did, but he got open again and hit a 3-pointer," Martin said of Anderson. "But there was enough time left at that point for us not to burn a timeout, unless we got in trouble and needed it, so we inbounded it to Alex and he drove and made a heck of a play."
Jones finished with 13 points and six assists, while Marcus Watson paced the Wolves (26-2) with 20 points and nine rebounds. David Viti also put up 14 points and four rebounds for Buford, which now looks to an "Elite Eight" showdown with Warner Robins next week -- the two teams will flip a coin to determine home-court advantage, as both are No. 1 seeds.
After Thursday's finish, Buford knows it will be in for yet another battle.
"It definitely does a lot for your confidence, to still win a game like that after being down late to a really good team," Martin said. "After watching (New Hampstead) on film I knew they were good. They were athletic and had five senior starters that would not go out without a fight."
As Thursday showed, something similar could certainly be said of the Wolves.
"We're just taking it one game at a time. We haven't had an easy one yet," Martin said of the playoffs. "Warner Robins is a very good team, and we're going to have to play our absolute best to keep playing. But the bottom line is that there are only eight teams left in our classification and we're one of them. We're still alive. And we feel pretty good about that."
