Terrific seasons sometimes hinge on the smallest of margins. Miracles even. We can chalk Willoughby-Eastlake South’s latest narrow victory to the latter.

South knocked off a strong squad from nearby Mentor with an incredible buzzer beating three from just behind mid-court by South star Jack Whitaker. The deep, deep three pushed South to a 78-76 victory and moved South to an impressive 16-1 record on the season.

As one might expect, and as dug up by Bob’s Blitz, the big make also sent the South crowd into absolute delirium, with the win helping line South up for a primo seed and potentially deep playoff run in the weeks ahead.

Even if that playoff run doesn’t materialize, there seems little doubt that Whitaker’s teammates and South fans will remember that final bucket for some time to come.

“This is definitely No. 1,” Whitaker told the News-Herald, who was sporting a black eye from a game against rival North on Jan. 30. “It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe it happened. It’s still going through my head. It’s fantastic, really.

“Everyone on our team is talented. We’re capable of almost anything, but we all stepped it up tonight. They did, I did, and we just stepped up our regular game. We stepped up how we regularly played.”