Wise County Messenger

Green light: Jones sends Paradise back to state with buzzer-beater against HenriettaFree Access

By Brendan Marchand
on March 10, 2026

Paradise junior guard Cooper Jones drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 38-35 win against Henrietta in the 3A Division II state semifinals Tuesday at Denton High. MIKE HALL | FOR THE MESSENGER

Paradise junior Cooper Jones was cold from the field all night against Henrietta, and then suddenly, he was red hot. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

Tied with the Bearcats at 35-35 in the 3A Division II State Semifinal, Jones made the biggest shot of his high school career. With 5.2 seconds on the clock, he drove to the arc, stepped back, ball faked, stepped through, rose up and cashed in on a 3-pointer from the left wing to send Paradise back to the state championship with the 38-35 win.

During the timeout preceding Jones’ money ball, Paradise coach Bo Rickner started to draw up an inbound design. Then he remembered he had a killer on his team, and trusted the guard to create for himself.

“A couple seconds into writing on the whiteboard, I just said ‘Quit overthinking this,'” Rickner said. “We’re giving the ball to No. 2 and we’re getting the heck out of his way.”

Jones said despite his struggles from the field the previous 31 minutes and 55 seconds, he trusted his shot.

“I just had to keep shooting, and I thought about all the countless hours I put in the gym. Sometimes you’re going to have nights like this, but you just have to see it through,” Jones said. “As soon as it went up I thought, ‘Yup, we’re going to state.'”

Paradise drew even with Henrietta at 2 points apiece 4  minutes into the game, but it was the Bearcats’ game from there until the heart-breaking buzzer-beater.

Henrietta, known for working its inside-out offense with tremendous size, flipped the script on Paradise early. The Bearcats knocked down four 3-pointers in the first half to take a 20-13 lead after two quarters of play.

The defense were evenly matched and the Panthers were winning the rebounding battle despite Henrietta’s size advantage, but the shots weren’t going through.

“At halftime I told the guys to keep trusting what we’ve been doing all year. We were getting good looks on the offensive end, but they just weren’t going in,” Rickner said. “Henrietta was efficient from the 3-point line in the first half and taking the air out of the ball a little too much for our liking, so we tried to extend some pressure there in the first half to try and speed them up.”

By the fourth quarter, Paradise deployed a full court man defense. The pressure created havoc for Henrietta and gave Paradise just enough momentum to chip away at the Bearcats’ lead, where a dribble-drive from Max Jordan and a trip to the free throw line tied knotted the score at 29 each.

“We just to adjust in-game and take in the coaching from Coach Rickner,” Jordan said. “[Henrietta] started slowing down in the second half and didn’t get as many outside shots off. We were able to control the game late by playing better defense and letting the offense work off of that.”

While the shots didn’t fall as often as Paradise wanted, they seemed to fall at good times. Will McGregor had all of his points on a trio of made 3-pointers, including two massive threes in the fourth quarter to give Paradise a 35-31 lead inside of 2 minutes to play.

“We had some big shots down the stretch,” McGregor said. “We’ve been here before and we knew the situation, and I’ve spent hours in the gym getting my shot right. They came at a good time.”

As soon as McGregor put Paradise up by 4 points late, Henrietta countered with Cooper Coleman’s layup to make it 35-33 with 46 seconds left. Paradise called a timeout the next possession, then turned the ball over on a botched inbound which led to Kayden Shaw’s game-tying layup.

Henrietta’s quick momentum swing was stopped dead by Jones’ delivery in crunch time.

“Big-time players make big-time shots in big-time games,” Rickner said.

Jones led Paradise in scoring with 15 points and a pair of three while Jordan added 12 points and was most efficient finishing around the rim.

Jordan and McGregor were also tasked with the challenge of checking Henrietta’s sizable playmakers, and they held their own. The Paradise “big men” allowed 13 points from Coleman and just 6 from Shaw, the latter posing a threat as the biggest player on the court Tuesday.

“We were more physical than them and tried to keep them out of the paint,” Jordan said. “We tried not to give them many open looks and worked as a team.”

Added McGregor: “We worked all week on taking away the inside and wanted them to shoot. It was kind of crazy that they started like 4-for-5 from three, so we had to adjust and close out harder. But it all started with being tough and gritty in the paint.”

With a state championship appearance under the team’s belt, Rickner said he and the players have a better idea of what to expect under the bright lights of the Alamodome. But the Panthers are no longer the plucky underdogs, and the competition in San Antonio Friday will be aware of that.

The Panthers will face off against Palestine Westwood 1 p.m. Friday at the Alamodome in the title game. Westwood (28-2) knocked off Aransas Pass 92-56 Tuesday.

“It’s going to be tough. It’s the state championship, and they made it there for a reason,” Rickner said. “Last year, we enjoyed the journey there. We had fun. This year, we’re treating it as a business trip — preparing all we can and giving it everything we’ve got to hopefully get a win.”

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