By Dennis Chambers

Steven Ashworth couldn’t buy a shot in the first half of his team's quarterfinal game at GEICO Nationals on Thursday.

The Highland (Utah) Lone Peak senior point guard and Utah State commit was 0 for 8 from the field. As a result, top seed Montverde (FL) Academy led the No. 8-seeded Knights 39-25 at halftime at Christ the King High School in Queens, New York. 

What took place in the second half was a shooting display that could’ve been mistaken for a Steph Curry practice video.

Ashworth helped Lone Peak roll back its double-digit deficit in the third quarter by pouring in 16 points—not to mention he also got his teammates involved with five assists. Against the best team and top player in the nation, he just kept firing until the final buzzer sounded.

Though Lone Peak's rally came up just short in an 87-82 loss, Ashworth finished 7 of 14 from 3-point range—including 4 for 5 in the second half—with 29 points and 10 assists in his final high school game.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever not scored in the first half,” Ashworth said. “It was disappointing for sure going into the locker room. I’m quick to forget, so I didn’t even know if I had any points or not. But like coach said, he instilled that confidence in me, saying you’re one of the best shooters in the state, if not country, go out and shoot it the percentages will win out. If I was 0 for 8 in the first half, I should be 8 for 8 in the second half. That’s the mentality I had.”

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At first glance, Lone Peak doesn’t resemble much of a basketball powerhouse. In fact, head coach David Evans joked that when the team travels through airports, people will often ask them if they’re a competitive chess team.

That’s a stark contrast from Montverde Academy, the undefeated mainstay in elite high school basketball, which happens to have RJ Barrett, the No. 1-ranked player in the country. 

“When we come in you can see the look on the boys’ faces, and I don’t know if it’s arrogance, but they’re like okay we can play with them,” Evans said. “And I’m like, 'Yo, that guy’s 5 inches taller than you, he’s way faster than you. Basketball’s an interesting game like that because you gotta play to your strengths. Our strength with this one is we have to get more possessions, and we got 15 more than them, and we have to hit shots.

“In the first half, it wasn’t going very well, with the adjustments. They’ve had a lot of games like this. We’re slow kids that have to be able to shoot the ball. But they know how to play basketball—they do.”

What was a 14-point halftime deficit turned into an 82-81 lead with under a minute to go. The Knights, whose second-best player is going to college on a golf scholarship, was on the verge of taking down a titan.

However, they wouldn’t be able to finish off their opponent. A timeout called by Ashworth on an inbounds play when the team didn’t have any remaining sent Montverde to the line for technical foul shots.

“I felt like Chris Webber,” Ashworth said.

From that moment on Montverde would keep its lead, resulting in the 87-82 final score. Barrett finished with a game-high 33 points and connected on 15 of his 20 shots from the foul line. In the final 5:50 of the game, Barrett either scored or assisted on all of the team’s remaining points. 

“RJ is just a man at this level,” Eagles head coach Kevin Boyle said. “That’s a team that’s well-coached, knows how to play, knows how to step in. But he’s hard to get charges off of, he gets that shoulder into you, and it’s hard not to foul him.”

In a tight-game situation against a heavy underdog, Boyle pointed out that Barrett called to shoot the technical foul shots following Ashworth’s miscue.

“He’s a winner,” Boyle said. “He won with Canada; he took them to a gold medal. He’s led us to an undefeated season. I think he just has a knack for winning. He’s matured, he wants the ball. Against Roselle (NJ) Catholic, we were down six with 20 seconds, and he scored seven points in 20 seconds… he wants to make a big play.”

Thursday night’s game at Christ the King High School in the first round of GEICO Nationals was filled with big plays. Perhaps even more than anyone anticipated. 

Lone Peak didn’t emerge victorious after exchanging blows with one of basketball’s heavyweights, but the Knights left the gym knowing they could leave a mark on the face of anyone who stands opposite them on the court.

“I think a bigger thing than us realizing we’re in the game, is the other team realizing that we’re in the game,” Ashworth said. “I think we have one black kid on our team, so they’re thinking, 'Hey, these guys can’t hang with us.' It’s that simple.”