John Dickman lofted the ball from the right corner and Ryan Hotchkiss, charging straight down the lane, leapt to meet it.

In one fluid motion, Hotchkiss caught and released the ball. The alley-oop basket went through the net as the fourth quarter buzzer sounded on the Huron High School boys basketball team’s win over Monroe Friday night. Players and cheerleaders rushed the court in celebration and the crowd at the Riverdome went wild.

Final score: Huron 66, Monroe 37.

No, it wasn’t a buzzer-beater for a victory. For those involved, it was better.

Dickman, Hotchkiss and Ralph Green were making their first - and likely only - appearance of the season for the River Rats.

Throughout Friday night’s game, they were on the bench in full uniform rather than their typical team manager standard polo shirts and khakis.

They were focused only on the game playing out in front of them instead of filling water cups or charting statistics from behind the bench.

And, for three minutes, they were the stars on the court, drawing the biggest cheers of the night. (See a video of the final basket here, courtesy of Tina Hotchkiss.)

“Scoring that basket was amazing,” Ryan Hotchkiss said. “It seems like that would never happen to me. I appreciate that coach (Waleed) Samaha would give me the opportunity to do it, and that the team gave us the encouragement to play so well.”

The appearance was a planned reward for the three student managers. With Monroe being a new member of the Southeastern Conference, Samaha didn’t know a lot about the Trojans or what to expect out of Friday’s game.

But one thing was certain. The managers would hit the floor at some point. The Parents’ Night festivities at Huron made it the perfect setting.

“They were going to play, no matter what the score was, and everybody knew that was going to be the case,” Samaha said. “I told the (main rotation of players) it was up to them to determine how long.”

Up by 11 points by halftime, starter Kyle Baker knew the River Rats had to pick things up in the second half.

“We needed to play our best basketball because we wanted to get them actual minutes to play, not just 30 seconds,” he said.

The game was completely under control by the end of the third quarter and Samaha called down the bench for his managers with three minutes left on the clock.

The River Rats and their faithful roared in approval throughout.

Green, who had a 3-point attempt bounce off the front of the rim, drew high praise for standing firm while trying to draw a charging foul - something the River Rats strive to do at least three times per game.

During a timeout, Samaha said he was struck by the scene of watching his starters scramble over sideline chairs to get the managers a cup of water.

“We were just giving them the same respect they give us,” Baker said.

Back on the court, Dickman pulled down five offensive rebounds in his organized basketball debut.

“Coach Samaha always tells us it’s who wants the ball more that will get it. I guess I wanted the ball more,” said Dickman, who also bravely admitted that the alley-oop pass to Hotchkiss was actually a wayward shot attempt.

“I guess it could be an alley-oop, because he got the rebound on an air ball. I guess an unintentional alley-oop. I’m just really glad that Ryan was there to put it up,” he said.

“It was a really exciting moment for all of us.”

Rich Rezler covers sports for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734-623-2553 or richrezler@annarbor.com.