Bartlett boys basketball avoids upset, beats Memphis Central on Jack Shackelford's buzzer beater

Jack Shackelford was supposed to be the decoy. R’Chaun King was the first read, then it was Christian Alston. 

But with the inbound play closing in on the five-second violation, KJ Neville passed to Shackelford, who was all alone in the corner. 

With a smooth flick of the wrist, Shackelford made the game-winning shot as time expired, saving Bartlett’s season with a 52-50 win over Memphis Central on Tuesday night at Whitehaven in the Region 8-4A semifinals.

"I caught it perfectly, it felt good and it was cash money man," Shackelford said after the game.

Shackelford finished with eight points, King scored a team-high 15 points. Memphis Central (18-11) was led by Dedrick Miles, who had 18 points and Damion Cox, Jr. who had 12. 

Bartlett (29-4) played most of the game from behind, trailing by as many as four points with less than a minute left in the game. 

Battling a deficit and a gym rooting for a Memphis Central upset, the Panthers held on to advance to the Region 8-4A championship game. 

"I knew we were going to have some kind of shot, it just happened to come to me and I made it," Shackelford said. "I was calm, I felt good about it and I knocked it down. That's what happens."

Bartlett coach Dion Real was in disbelief from the final shot all the way to the locker room. He hunched over, hands on his knees as the Panthers celebrated the shot that kept their hopes of returning to the TSSAA state tournament alive. 

"(Shackelford's) put in the work and he earned that shot," Real said. "It fortunately won the game for us."

More:'We always run this district': Bartlett boys basketball beats Cordova for District 15-4A title

Now he can breathe a little bit easier as the Panthers play Cordova (29-2) for the fourth time this season in Thursday’s region championship game. Both region finalists advance to a sectional game on Monday.

The region champion hosts a home sectional game and the loser goes on the road. All sectional winners advance to the TSSAA boys basketball state tournament held March 13-16 at Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro.

"I tip my hat off to Central, they did a great job; great game plan by coach (Vernard) Watkins," Real said after the game. "They gave us fits all night long. We struggled and again we found just a little way to win."

Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @wynstonw__.