St. Marys falls to St. Henry in OT.
ST. HENRY — Jadin Davis won the game last week against Marion Local on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and forced overtime in Friday’s non-league tilt with St. Henry but the third time wasn’t a charm for the senior in OT.
Down three with seconds left, Austin Parks snatched the rebound off a LeTrey Williams missed 3-pointer and lobbed it to Davis, who knocked down the game-tying shot to force overtime at 39-39. But three missed free throws in the final 38 seconds gave St. Henry its opportunity for clutch shots — which it cashed in to storm back and hold off the Roughriders 46- 45.
St. Marys started OT with a four- point lead and led by three with 1:31 remaining after a pair of free throws by Gino Johnson. But St. Henry kept attacking, connecting on a jumper with 38 seconds left to pull within two.
On the other end, Brandon Bowers was fouled, shooting two, but the junior missed both as the Redskins turned that opportunity into a point when Carter Ontrop connected on one free throw with 12 seconds left.
On the next possession, Williams picked up a foul to go to the line for a one-and-one, but the senior missed the free throw as St. Henry’s Bennet Gels grabbed the rebound, raced down the floor and drove in for the go-ahead jumper over Davis to draw a block for a 46- 45 lead.
With five seconds left, Davis attempted another game-winner but Casey Bruening got a hand on the shot as it fell short of the rim as the buzzer sounded.
“It was tough, it was tough, it was really tough,” Roughriders coach Dan Hegemier said. “But when you are on the road, you’ve got to play and St. Henry just outfought us, especially in the first quarter.”
That first quarter resulted in a 9-2 Redskins’ lead 4:23 into Friday’s contest with the Roughriders’ only basket coming from Parks 16 seconds in. St. Henry got on the board with a modest free throw by Logan Lefeld but then dropped a couple of treys in from Jaden Lange and Bruening to jump out to a 7-2 lead before Lefeld’s 6-foot jumper forced St. Marys to regroup with a timeout trailing 9-2.
“It all comes down to the first three or four minutes of the game,” Hegemier proclaimed. “We don’t come out ready to play and we’re down 9-2 to start the game.”
St. Marys tied the game later in the opening quarter but the team could not pull away from the Redskins and trailed throughout much of the fourth quarter to force Davis’ heroics.
Out of the first-quarter timeout down 9-2, Williams connected on a 3-pointer and a jumper on the left wing by Brandon Bowers pulled the Riders within two with 2:07 left to play in the opening eight minutes. A drive and foul by Davis resulted in a pair of made free throws with a tied game at 1:35
but St. Henry grabbed the momentum back with a bucket by Sam Koesters and a putback layup by Lefeld pushed the Redskins’ lead back to four. Only a Williams desperation 3-pointer as time expired kept the Riders within one point, down 13-2 after the first quarter.
Despite a combined eight turnovers between the teams in the first half of the second quarter, St. Marys grabbed a three-point lead, its first of the night, on a pair of buckets by Parks with 4:08 remaining in the first half.
But those were the last points the Riders got the rest of the half as St. Marys went 0-of4 from the floor while Ontrop connected on a jumper with 2:20 left and a free throw by Bruening tied the game at the half.
After a Gels’ bucket at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter, St. Marys shut out the Redskins the next 3:16 of the game while Williams’ transition two and triple and Parks’ jumper gave the Roughriders its largest lead of the night, 27-22, with 3:18 left in the quarter.
But like before, St. Henry stuck around when Bowers was called for goaltending, a free throw by Lefeld and a jumper by Ontrop with Davis’ dunked sandwiched between to make it a 29-27 Riders’ lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Fifty-one seconds later, St. Marys never led again in regulation when Ontrop drove in for a layup to tie the game at 29-29 and busted through the Roughriders’ defense on the next possession to take a 31-29 lead.
St. Henry eventually led by five with 2:02 remaining after Gels’ bucket but Williams closed the gap with a free throw and a clutch triple to pull within one possession, down 39-36 with 16.9 remaining.
Bruening traveled with 11.5 seconds left following the inbound pass, setting up for another thrilling shot by Davis to force OT.
Aside from St. Henry’s tenacity, St. Marys’ free-throw shooting and rebounding also stood out.
After shooting 73% from the charity line through the first two games, St. Marys shot 54% on Friday — with five of the team’s six misses coming in OT.
“We’ve been shooting the ball well at the free-throw line,” Hegemier said. “We had a four-point lead but you’ve got to make those free throws.”
St. Henry out-rebounded St. Marys 3117, including 11-3 on offensive rebounds.
Williams led all scorers with 20 points, followed by 10 from Parks, who also had five boards. Davis finished with nine points and five rebounds.
Lefeld led the Redskins with 15 points and 10 rebounds, followed by 10 from Gels — four in OT — and six boards.
The Roughriders, however, did get a win in junior varsity action, 57-41.
St. Marys will return to action next Friday at Wapakoneta to open Western Buckeye League play.