Stick-back lifts St. Mary CC past Big Red
Plymouth did so many good things down the stretch of Wednesday night’s Sectional semifinal game against St. Mary Central Catholic-including their defense on the Panthers’ Sedric Cook on the final possession of the game.
The Big Red forced an air-ball on Cook’s potential game-winning baseline jumper, only to see it fall right into the hands of Charlie Kaftan, who beat the buzzer with a put-back to lift the Panthers to a 46-44 victory at Shelby High School.
Plymouth had strung together an 11-3 fourth quarter run to turn a 40-33 deficit into a 44-43 lead with 2:13 to play. St. Mary’s Braylon Harris split two free throws to tie the game with 49.8 seconds to go.
The Big Red were whistled for a controversial fivesecond violation trying to inbound the ball on their own baseline with 37.8 seconds left. The Panthers were able to drain the clock on their final possession, prior to Kaftan’s heroics.
“We wanted to have a back-side guy in there to help,” noted Plymouth Head Coach
Owen Reynolds
Eric Picklesimer. “Cook went to the rim like we thought he would. We had the help we needed and Gavin was able to keep him out of the paint. We had help on both sides, because we felt it could have been Cook or Harris taking that shot. We didn’t have a great night rebounding, but there wasn’t much we could do on that last one.”
The win sent St. Mary (7-16) to Friday night’s Sectional final against top-seeded Colonel Crawford.
It didn’t appear that a Panthers’ victory would be anywhere near possible early-on, as Plymouth (4-19) got out of the gates well, holding SMCC without a point for the first four minutes and grabbing three five-point leads, including 12-7 by the quarter’s end. Owen
Gavin Bishop
Reynolds, who topped Plymouth offensively with 14 points on 6-of12 shooting, scored the first five points of the game and netted eight in the first period.
Gavin Bishop, who added nine points, four assists and two steals for PHS, hit an offbalance runner and got a three to bank in over the first four minutes of the second quarter, as the Big Red established as much as a 10-point advantage (21-11).
But St. Mary Central Catholic closed the half on a 9-3 surge (9-1 before a late basket by Layne Bushey helped keep Plymouth ahead by three at the break, 2320).
SMCC extended their run to 16-3 with the first seven points of the third quarter to claim a 27-23 edge. Cook, who led all players with 15 points,
Layne Bushey
to go with six rebounds and two steals, scored off the drive, while Kyle West followed with a three-pointer to give the Panthers their first lead of the night (25-23) 90 seconds into the period. Cook followed with a transition bucket after a block by Kaftan--one of two he had on the evening and one of six for St. Mary, overall.
Trace Mcvey put the brakes on the run with a pair of free throws and Carson Tucker converted his first field goal of the night for Plymouth to tie the game at 27. Bushey, who also tallied nine points, scored off a reverse and sank a baseline jumper as part of an 8-0 Big Red run for a 31-27 lead with 2:30 left in the third.
But as they did in the second quarter, the Panthers closed well, outscoring the Big Red,
Plymouth
St. Mary CC
Player Tucker Reynolds Mcvey
Burrer Ratliff Bushey
Player Powell Cook West Jackson Myers Harris Gill Kafton Wehner Burch
FG 1-3 6-12 0-2 3-8 0-0 1-1 4-7 0-1 12 7 11 13
7-2, including two field goals by Cook (who scored nine in the period) for a 34-33 lead heading into the fourth.
West, who scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, scored twice in the first 1:21 of the period and Lance Powell nailed a jumper for his first points to push the run to 13-2 and the lead to 40-33 with 5:34 to go. West nailed another three after Plymouth trimmed their deficit to 40-37, which marked St. Mary 10 14 11 ------------ 44 12 ------------ 46
Plymouth (4-19)
FT 3PT PTS REB AST STL BLK 1-2 0-2 3 3 1 0 1 0-0 2-3 14 4 3 0 0 5-6 0-1 5 1 1 1 0 2-4 1-3 9 3 4 2 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0 0 0 1-2 0-0 9 4 1 0 0 2-2 0-0 2 1 1 1 0
FG: 15-34; FT: 11-16; 3PT: 3-9; PTS: 44; REB: 17; AST: 11; STL: 4; BLK: 1; Turnovers: 10; Team/dead
Ball Rebs: 5
St. Mary Central Catholic (7-16)
FG FT 3PT PTS REB AST STL BLK 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 3 0 1 1 6-13 3-4 0-1 15 6 2 2 1 5-10 0-0 2-2 12 7 1 1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 3-12 1-2 1-5 8 2 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2-6 0-0 1-3 5 3 2 0 2 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 5 0 1 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1
FG: 19-47; FT: 4-6; 3PT: 4-12; PTS: 46; REB: 28; AST: 6; STL: 5; BLK: 6; Turnovers: 12; Team/dead Ball
Rebs: 4
Central Catholic’s final field goal over the last four minutes--before Kaftan’s game-winner.
“In the second half, we just didn’t keep them out of the paint,” said Picklesimer. “They got to the rim, they got some free throws, they were able to get some kick-outs.”
The Panthers outrebounded Plymouth, 28-17, led by seven boards from West. Harris chipped in with eight points in the victory.