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Down to the wire: Game-winning shot by Arizona high school basketball player goes viral

By Matt Rodewald
Updated  January 29, 2020 11:02pm CST
FOX 10 Phoenix

Down to the wire: Game-winning shot by Arizona high school basketball player goes viral

A game-winning shot with only seconds to spare, made by an Arizona high school basketball player wearing Kobe Bryant's number, no less, has gone viral on social media. FOX 10's Matt Rodewald reports.

CHANDLER, Ariz. - There was a game-winning shot that happened just in the nick of time during a basketball game at Basha High School in Chandler. Now, the video has gone viral.

The game happened Tuesday night, when a varsity player wearing the number 24 beat the buzzer in a game-winning shot. That was followed by dozens of Basha students storming the court.

"It was crazy, just everything it was so wild, just like a movie scene, like that's what I felt like it was," said Brayden Nako.

The junior hit the impossible fall away three that many of us have seen from another number 24.

Kobe Bryant.

"Most of my teammates, they know how much of a Kobe fan I am. So they know that number 24 is reserved for my number," said Trent McLaughlin.

During practice, McLaughlin wears #10, which was what Kobe Bryant wore for Team USA.

Trent knew that Tuesday was going to be a special night, but in the final seconds, he sensed the magic.

"After the timeout, I was just standing at half court, and I look over to the student section and their all holding Kobe jerseys. You kind of feel it in the air," said Trent.

The storybook ending was captured on social media, and has gone viral. Watching it again, people can see an eerie similarity to a shot that the late NBA legend would have made himself, in a clutch moment.

"Fadeaway. Baseline. Banked shot. It's what he was known for. It was pretty cool," said Trent.

The game happened in the days following the shocking death of Kobe Bryant, and people can't help but wonder if one #24 got some help from above, from another #24.

"A lot of people have asked me, 'do you think Kobe was with you when you took that shot?'" said Trent. "When I shot it, I knew that if it was going to go in, it had to be a bank and I just kinda felt like he was watching."

Trent is a Division 1 prospect who will play college basketball. He has played in hundreds of games for probably a decade, and this was the first game-winning buzzer he has ever made.