"I'm a lefty, but I have a good right hand. I've always had it," Morgan said after being mobbed by teammates and fans in front of the bleachers. ". . . It felt awkward but it went in, so I'm not arguing."
The shot had Norristown (15-7) and coach Mike Evans experiencing déjà vu on the opposing bench. In last season's District 1 Class AAAA quarterfinals, Morgan hit jumpers to tie the game in both regulation and the first overtime, then sank the decisive free throws of a 56-55, double-OT win for the Indians.
Before boarding the team bus, Evans shook his head.
"You can't play better defense," he said.
Morgan added up the gut-wrenching shots he has hit against the Eagles, and laughed.
"I got them," he said, shrugging.
But while he credited his latest clutch feat to the "basketball gods" - reversing Tuesday's result when North (17-5) lost to Bensalem on a buzzer-beater - Morgan couldn't have seized the moment without several key moments that preceded it in the nonleague game.
The game-winning play North coach Derek Wright drew up had Morgan come from the left sideline to set a back screen for a big man, then sprint crosscourt past another screen and down the right sideline.
"Every coach and every team practices it every day, the end-of-the-game play," Wright said.
No coach, however, draws up a flying, off-hand, miracle toss - "the craziest shot I've seen us have in a game ever," Wright called it. North forward Arron Goodman said Morgan, who has committed to Maryland-Baltimore County, is "so confident" in tight games that he called for the ball in the timeout huddle.
A stellar defensive play by Morgan's backcourt mate, sophomore Rip Engel, kept the game tied seconds earlier. Norristown held possession from when 1 minute, 9 seconds remained until Engel forced Eagles guard Samir Bey into a corner and smacked the ball out of bounds off Bey's leg with 2.3 seconds left.
"It's a cool feeling," Morgan said of hitting his first game-winning buzzer-beater. "You feel good about yourself. All the hard work you've put in it finally pays off in a moment like that."
Norristown 8 3 16 17 – 44
Council Rock North 7 8 17 15 – 47
N: Samir Bey 4, Luke Kelley 15, R.J. Gordon 12, Marquis Bryant 6, Jahad York 2, Richard Bouknight 1, Jahbri Hargrove 4.
CRN: Rip Engel 5, Aaron Morgan 15, Matt McClosky 12, Kyle McClosky 2, Arron Goodman 13.
Contact staff writer Brian Kotloff at bkotloff@phillynews.com.
