Detroit Old Redford's Arkell Boyd makes game-winning 3, memory for lifetime in Div. 3 semi

EAST LANSING — Detroit Old Redford’s Kason Mayes stood at the free-throw line with 3 second left and his team trailing Riverview Richard by two points.

His first free throw fell clearly through the net, but his second bounced around the rim and off. Following a scrum for the ball it went out of bounds with 2 seconds on the clock.

Richard touched the ball last so Old Redford’s Arkell Boyd stood at the elbow in front of Justin Austin, who was inbounding the ball for the biggest play of the season.

“There was a man on the block,” Boyd said, “and he came and set a screen for me.”

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Once the screen was set, Boyd ran to the corner and Austin delivered the ball, setting up Boyd, a 6-foot-3 junior, to take the biggest shot of his life.

“Shooting is my thing,” Boyd said, “but when that particular play came at the end of the game, I knew what to do.”

He certainly did.

Boyd caught the ball and immediately raised up and nailed a 3-point shot that gave Old Redford a 43-41 semifinal victory Thursday to send the Ravens into Saturday’s Division 3 state championship game against Niles Brandywine.

Boyd’s shot was the result of the perfect play, which was not a staple of Old Redford’s offense.

“We actually put that play in yesterday, just for this occasion,” said Old Redford coach Ray Reeves, “so it just worked out.”

Boyd remembers practicing that play Wednesday, so it was fresh in his memory when it was called so very late in the game.

It was easily the biggest shot of Boyd’s young career and was his first game-winner.

“I always wanted to do that, “He said. “I work on my shot every day. But no, no I’ve never hit a shot like that before.”

Boyd wanted to follow the ball after he shot it, but his view was obscured. And then came the stampede.

“I really didn’t see it,” he said. “I shot, I got fouled. When I fell to the ground, I looked up, I saw the ball go in and everybody started running toward me.”

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No foul was called on the play, but it didn’t matter. It was a tremendous moment for Boyd, who finished with 15 points.

But it wasn’t the only big moment for the Ravens (21-7).

Richard (23-4) had a two-point lead and the ball with 37 seconds left when Kason Mayes stole the ball in the open court and scored to tie the game with 32 second remaining.

Luke Westerdale scored for Richard on a power drive to the basket with 14 second left to set up the final sequence and the biggest shot of Boyd’s life.

This was not a game — except for the final sequence — for the time capsule. Both teams struggled mightily at times.

Richard hit just 35.7% of its shots (15 of 42) while Old Redford converted 36% of its shots (18 of 50). But hey, it’s difficult for teams to go from shooting in a high school gym to shooting at the Breslin Center and the wide open spaces behind the basket. That’s not the kind of shooting background these kids are accustomed to having.

The teams did compete like crazy and played like their lives depended on the outcome.

As he was speaking with the press, a Michigan High School Athletic Association official handed Boyd a phone so he could watch the clip of him making the shot.

After watching it, Boyd reached out and grabbed a reporter’s arm.

“Here, here, look at this,” he said. “I told you I was fouled. He didn’t let me land. I was fouled.”

Well, yes he was fouled. The defender didn’t foul him on the arm, but there was contact with the body, which is why Boyd’s wound up watching the ball go through the basket from the ground.

“You’re right, you were fouled,” the reporter told Boyd. “Do you want to go back out there and shoot the free throw now.”

Boyd laughed and said no, he was fine because you didn’t want to mess with the way the game ended.

“Yes sir,” he said. “This is the biggest moment of my life.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him @mickmccabe1. Save 10% on his new book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” by ordering right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MHSAA basketball: Arkell Boyd lifts Detroit Old Redford to Div. 3 final