Video: Tipton’s Matt Pelzer sinks buzzer-beating winner in district quarterfinals

ANAMOSA — Monday night's postseason opener here was an absolute beauty decided by the heroics of senior guard Matt Pelzer

His double-pump leaner out front at the 3-point line at the buzzer gave Tipton a thrilling 71-69 win over West Branch.

Freshman Beau Cornwell made one of two free throws with seven seconds to go to put West Branch (8-14) on top by a point. The Bears deflected the ball out of bounds at the halfcourt line with a little over three to go.

Pelzer took the inbounds pass on his side of halfcourt, power dribbled to the left of the arc, pump faked and let go with a shot that went in. He ran around the court in sheer jubilation as his teammates sprinted to catch him and celebrate.

'Coach just said to get the ball inbounds and make sure we get a shot up,' Pelzer said. 'I just stepped up, tried to get as close to the hoop as I could. I saw two guys with their hands up. I figured if I pump fake, I might get them in the air. When it went in, there were so many things that went through my mind. I don't know. I'm just so excited.'

Pelzer finished with a team-high 19 points for Tipton (13-9), which plays at top-seeded Northeast Goose Lake in a district semifinal Thursday night.

Junior forward Cooper Kabela had 35 points and 11 rebounds for West Branch.

'We just wanted to get the ball in Matt's hands,' said Tipton Coach Matt Fouch. 'He's got close to 1,000 points in his career, so we wanted to get it to him. Ideally, we were supposed to inbounds the ball to the right, but they prevented us from going that way. He just made a big shot.'