Money hits game winner as St. E stuns Sanford

WILMINGTON – Jordan Money was on the money.

The 6-foot-4 senior banked in a 10-footer while falling down near the lane with four seconds to go, and St. Elizabeth survived a dazzling all-around performance from Sanford freshman Jyare Davis to rally for a 57-56 victory on Thursday night at the St. E Center.

Ninth-ranked St. E (6-3) hadn’t led since the 6:31 mark of the third quarter when Money’s shot changed the score. Then Davis’ desperation heave from half court banked off the rim as time ran out on the stunned Warriors.

Fifth-ranked Sanford (5-6) hit only 3 of 8 foul shots in the final 2:16 to allow the Vikings to creep close. The Warriors’ final two misses came while leading 56-55 with 18.3 seconds remaining.

Senior Jordan Money scored 14 points, including the winning bank shot with four seconds remaining, as St. Elizabeth edged Sanford 57-56 on Thursday night.

Sanford had three fouls to give before sending St. E into the bonus, so the Warriors fouled with 15.3, 12.3 and 10.6 seconds left. That set up the final play to Money.

“Basically, we wanted to spread the floor out and give Jordan room to work,” Vikings coach Matt Rubincam said. “If Jordan is inside, anywhere between 12 and 15 feet, he can make something happen.”

He made it happen, despite a sea of flailing Sanford arms around him.

“My instructions were go straight to the basket,” Money said. “No matter what, go straight to the basket, get fouled, make the shot. And I made the shot. We needed that win.”

The Vikings got it, beating Sanford for what Rubincam said was only the second time in school history.

The 6-5 Davis dominated most of the way, finishing with 31 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and four assists. It wasn’t enough, but the freshman certainly gave the fans their money’s worth.

“We just said, ‘Now we’ve got to look at him for three more years,’” Rubincam said. “And this kid is going to get better. Every time I see him, he’s getting better. He’s tough now, and he’s going to be tougher.”

Davis had 18 points in the first half, 29 through three quarters. He scored inside and out and hit 12 of 21 from the floor – including 4 of 8 from 3-point range.

“It was a phenomenal game for him,” Sanford coach Stan Waterman said. “He played hard. We felt like we could get him the ball inside and we did, and even when he got out on the perimeter he made his 3-point shots.”

Sanford scored the first seven points of the second half to surge to a 37-33 lead, and maintained a four- to five-point lead until guard Corey Perkins – one of the Warriors’ primary ballhandlers – fouled out with 4:23 to play. That’s when Sanford slowed the pace.

“We looked like we were a little bit tired, and I felt like we had kind of gotten the game under control. We wanted to control the tempo,” Waterman said. “… You’ve got to make free throws at the end, and we needed to get stops.”

The Warriors could do neither of those things. Sophomore Justin Money (15 points) made a layup to pull the Vikings within 56-53 with 50.1 seconds remaining. Then his older brother, Jordan (14 points), went coast-to-coast after a rebound to get St. E within 56-55 with 20.1 seconds to go.

Then Jordan Money got his final chance, and made the most of it.

“They wanted to stall the ball, so we’d foul and get in foul trouble and they would win,” Jordan Money said. “But we stayed patient, got what we wanted, and we executed at the end.”

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ