Landon Harrison fired away from 50 feet and drained the shot at the buzzer.
The basket drew plenty of "oohs" from the crowd, but the half-court shot only made an uphill climb appear closer.
The Helias Crusaders trailed the entire game Saturday against the Hogan Prep Rams. The Crusaders came close to erasing a 14-point first-half deficit, but Hogan Prep held on long enough for a 72-70 win Saturday in the final game of the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"Our team was not focused and ready to play today," Buffington said of the Crusaders, who trailed 16-6 after one quarter. "I'm scratching my head, trying to figure out why that's the case."
Helias struggled to produce early against a quick, guard-heavy Hogan Prep team. The Crusaders committed seven turnovers in the first quarter, then seven more in the second.
On top of that, in an attempt to climb out of its early hole, Helias missed on all eight tries from 3-point range in the first quarter.
"We didn't want to play side to side," Buffington said. "They didn't have a guy over 6-foot on the team. Our plan was to punch it in and play inside-out.
"For some reason, we did not do that tonight."
When Helias did begin to work the ball inside, the plan fell into place. Nathan Bax scored on back-to-back possessions early in the second quarter, then Dalton Weaver took his turn in the post.
Weaver finished with a season-high 13 points, all in the second and third quarters. He was 7-of-7 from the free-throw line and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
"Dalton played very big for us," Buffington said. "The best thing about Dalton is he understands his role for this team to be successful."
Helias trailed 34-24 at halftime and spent the third quarter trying to whittle away at its deficit. Marcus Anthony scored a basket late in the quarter to cut the Hogan Prep lead to 42-38, but the Rams were able to stretch it back to 49-41 by the end of the quarter.
Every time the Crusaders made a push, Hogan Prep seemed to have an answer, usually in the form of a silencing 3-point shot. The Rams were 8-of-16 beyond the arc.
"They average five or six 3s a game, and they hit their average on us in the first half," Buffington said. " They continued to hit more dagger 3s on us deep into possessions late in the second half. That really made closing that gap a little bit tougher."
Helias was down by 11 points with 4:35 to play. Alex Buschjost hit a 3 from the corner to trim the lead back to single digits.
Harrison, who missed his first three 3-point attempts of the game, knocked down a deep 3 from the left wing with 1:16. The Crusaders were within one possession of the lead, trailing 66-63.
Nick Brandt, who finished with 13 points, made another 3 for Helias with :21 left. Now the Hogan Prep lead was just one point at 68-67.
"We fouled their best player, a kid that just murdered us all night long," Buffington said of the ensuing possession. "The last thing we wanted to do was put him on the line."
Damien Daniels knocked down a pair of free throws with :18 left to push the lead back to three points. Daniels finished with a game-high 28 points, scoring 16 in the fourth quarter.
Helias intended to hold for the last shot with a chance to tie the game, but Harrison's 3-point try from the top of the key was deflected and grabbed by Hogan Prep. Jai'len Jones knocked down two free throws with :01.9 left, which sealed the win, despite Harrison's half-court heave.
Jones finished with 12 points and Roosevelt Cooper added 10 points for Hogan Prep (14-6).
Helias had four players score in double figures, led by Harrison, who scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. Bax also had 12 points.
Helias (15-5) will come off back-to-back losses for the first time this season when it hosts Hickman on Friday.
"It's not 'back to the drawing board' time, but the several little things that win games, we're not doing them right now," Buffington said. "We need to get back to it."
In the JV game, Helias outscored Hogan Prep 17-5 in the fourth quarter to rally for a 49-45 win.
Isaac Johnson led Helias (13-3) with 15 points, while Jake VanLoo chipped in 12 points.