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H.S. basketball player hits two buzzer-beaters in same game

If the game's going down to the wire, you want Ryan Sturdivan on your team. The Woodland (Wash.) High School senior sunk a 45-foot shot at the buzzer to give his team the 49-47 win on Monday night. The win helped Woodland stay undefeated, improving to 6-0 on the season.

Woodland had trailed by nine just minutes earlier. He played down the rally-capping shot in a postgame interview with The Daily News.

“Please don’t make it sound like I did it all myself,” said the guard. “My teammates played great defense, they got me the ball in spots where I like to shoot... none of us gave up when it looked bad. All I did was make a lucky shot.”

Lucky, for most. But Sturdivan seems to have a rare talent for the shot. That was, after all, his second of the game.

He also hit a shot from behind the mid-court line as time ran out in the first half. That shot brought Woodland within one point of Kelso High School, as the Beavers went into the locker room trailing 19-18.

“I probably make those shots about two percent of the time,” Sturdivan said. “And that’s on a good day. You don’t really practice them, unless you’re playing ‘Horse,’ or think about them too much. If the ball winds up in your hands at the end of a close game, you just hope you can make one.”

He had 24 points in the game, the highest on the day.

While the final shot was spectacular, his coach added a bit of perspective after the game.

“If we’re in that position, we do want Ryan taking the shot,” coach Jason Buffum said. “You just don’t want to be in that position.”