Patrick Strom loves the moment.
As time was running down, Strom hit a turnaround jump shot from the top of the key. That was the game-winner Tuesday as Fargo Shanley rallied to beat Grand Forks Central 67-65 in boys high school basketball in the Knights' gym.
"That was a fun situation,'' Strom said. "Tie game, ball in your hands, being told to make a play -- I like that. This is my fourth year playing varsity. I feel like it's my time.''
Central tied the game when Treion Davis swished a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining. Shanley inbounded the ball to Strom, and the senior worked the ball downcourt. Under stiff defensive pressure, he hit the game-winner with two seconds remaining.
"I don't do that move very often,'' Strom said. "But I saw a double team coming and I acted on instinct, spinning around for the shot. My original plan was to take it all the way to the basket and get to the free throw line or pass. But that changed in the heat of the moment.''
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Strom, an all-state pick as a junior, finished with 28 points. That's just under his Eastern Dakota Conference-leading average of 30 points a game.
"He struggled a little against Fargo South the other night,'' Shanley coach Shane Alderman said. "But he bounced back. It's nice to have him in that position at the end of a game. He wants the ball, and he was very confident with it.''
Shanley led by as much as seven in a first half that ended with the Deacons ahead 41-38.
Central opened the second half on a 9-2 run to go up 47-43. After Shanley edged ahead 57-55, three straight field goals by Davis gave Central a 61-57 lead with 6:26 remaining.
But the Knights went cold, scoring only two points on a pair of Josh Schumer free throws on their next eight possessions. Shanley went on an 8-2 run, pulling into a 65-63 lead when first Spencer Jacobson, then Strom grabbed long defensive rebounds and went the length of the court for layups.
"That will do it in a game like this,'' Central coach Dan Carlson said of the late dry spell. "They switched their defenses up and we didn't adjust very well.
"He (Strom) is good. That's the kind of guy you want taking that last shot. And we had him well defended. He just hit a tough shot.''
Jacobson added 15 points for the 2-3 Deacons.
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Jake Mussman's 19 points led a balanced Central offense, with Jake Wavra adding 12 points and Jaylon Butler and Davis each scoring 11.
Central dropped to 3-2 with its second straight two-point loss. "The guys are competing hard,'' Carlson said. "We'll take that. We know we have to get better at some things.''
