Highland gets walk-off triple from McCulloch in conference showdown with Titans

POCATELLO — The Highland Rams trailed the Thunder Ridge Titans most of the night Tuesday, by as many as 11 points in the third quarter. But some timely scoring and gritty defense set the Rams up with possession down two points, under their own basket, with 3.1 seconds left.

Senior Kasey Carter had been clutch all night, and junior Colton Stucki had been Highland’s leading scorer most of the game, so either would have been a great option to take a potential game-tying or game-winning shot. Instead, head coach Matt Stucki had Colton screen for a flashing Cedric Mitchell with Carter in the far corner. And senior Boston McCulloch, who had not made a field goal all game, darted to the near corner.

Without a single dribble, McCulloch caught the inbounding pass from Marshall Glenn and hoisted a fall-away triple from the corner over the contest from 6-foot-2 Kenyan Wright.

Carter had a great angle of the shot, being directly across the court from his teammate, and said he knew it was in.

“I was on the backside baseline, and it looked pretty good,” Carter told EastIdahoSports.com. “I still got scared, but it looked great.”

“It felt good,” McCulloch added.

Energy city! Boston McCulloch hits the buzzer-beater triple, @RamHighland beats Thunder Ridge, 57-56. The Rams now have control of 6A D5-6 conference. Wow! pic.twitter.com/bqLmpXvTMu

— Kalama Hines (@HINESight_2020) January 21, 2026

The Highland bench and student section stormed McCulloch and the court as his buzzer-beating, game-winning 3-pointer slide home, giving the Rams (12-3, 4-0) a 57-56 home win and conference lead over Thunder Ridge (11-3, 3-1).

Before his big shot, McCulloch had scored just two points, on a pair of free throws, and grabbed two rebounds. He had given his team effort, but the shots weren’t falling.

Despite his off-night, Matt said that it was an easy decision to draw up the game-deciding play for the senior.

“I’ve seen the work that he puts in in the offseason,” the coach said. “I know that he has a belief that the next one’s in. And he has the ability to elevate, and shoot the ball high.”

McCulloch needed to use the fall-away and high-arcing shot to get over Wright’s contest. That made an already difficult shot even more difficult, Matt said.

“That was a big-time shot. An incredible shot,” he said.

“I was cold all game,” McCulloch said. “I’m thankful my teammates and my coaches trusted me to take that shot.”

For 30 seconds after the shot, players, fans and even the Rams coaches burst into an elated mob. The player at the center of that mob, McCulloch, said he was lost in the celebration.

“It didn’t feel real,” he said. “All of it — it was just a blur.”

Highland trailed much of the second half by double-digits, and hadn’t led since they were up 16-15 early in the second quarter. But they scrapped enough against a much larger Titan team, and kept within striking distance.

That effort was led by Colton, who finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Carter, who finished with a game-high 21 points, five rebounds and a steal.

While Colton, Highland’s tallest player at 6-foot-5, finished with a team-leading nine boards, all of the Rams contributed to the rebounding efforts against a Thunder Ridge team with four players listed at 6-foot-6 or taller — including 7-foot sophomore James Nelson.

Matt said he calls this team “the goon squad,” because they don’t look big enough to be a basketball team. So for them to remain competitive against the bigger teams, like Thunder Ridge and the reigning 6A champion Owyhee, they must do the dirty work and stay attached to their man at all times when rebounding.

While they lost the rebounding battle, Matt pointed out that his Rams grabbed several key boards.

One of those key rebounds came in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

Carter was fouled while shooting a 3. He made the first two free throws, but missed the third. He reacted quickly and earned the rebound and a second-shot opportunity. And he was fouled again, this time making both shots, to cut a nine-point lead to five.

“Kasey has exhibited this uncanny ability to just find the ball,” Matt said. “He’s not the strongest one on the team, but he’s like a little worm in there and just finds the ball. He’s consistently done that for us.”

McCulloch expanded on that thought.

“He’s just a baller, he’s a dawg. He does everything,” McCulloch said of Carter. “He made some really big plays — I wouldn’t have been able to shoot that shot if it wasn’t for Kasey tonight.”

The Titans were led by sophomore Wright, who scored 17, and junior McKay Scoresby, who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

After the game, Matt told his team to enjoy the win for 30 or 40 minutes, but then to relax, eat dinner, and get a good night’s rest and be ready to get back to work at practice Wednesday.

The Rams, he said, put themselves in a good position with the win, but the work is far from over. Four of Highland’s six remaining games are in-conference, meaning every night will feel like a must-win. That starts Thursday, when they face Canyon Ridge (8-7, 1-3).

McCulloch obviously took his coach’s message to heart.

“This was a big step, but we’ve still got a lot of games to play, so we’re going to celebrate tonight, but we’ve got to get ready for Canyon Thursday,” he said.

Carter said that the Riverhawks are, similar to Thunder Ridge, a big, physical team, meaning Thursday’s home test will be similar to the one Highland passed Tuesday.

The Titans will be back home Thursday, hosting Rigby (0-4, 5-8).