The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Amherst clinches share of SWC in win
It’s been a long time coming for Amherst.
The Comets held off a scrappy North Ridgeville team to earn a hard-fought 51-46 road win on Feb. 12. The win was significant as it gave Amherst a share of the program’s first Southwestern Conference title since 1992.
“This is special for us, it’s really special,” Amherst coach Pat Bray said. “These guys have worked their butts off. This whole group of young men (is) a great group. From No. 1 to No. 9, it’s a great bunch. Everyone has accepted their role and done a great job when they step on the floor. I can’t say enough about them. They are special.”
Amherst didn’t clinch the conference title outright as Olmsted Falls is hot on its heels. The Bulldogs still have a chance to clinch a share of the title.
With the stakes as high as they were, the game was a physical one and came down to the final minute of the game.
Amherst (14-3, 14-2 SWC) held a 49-39 lead in the closing minutes and it appeared the game was in hand.
However, the Comets went to the foul line for oneand-one opportunities on three straight possessions and went 0-for-3, leaving the door open for a North Ridgeville comeback.
The Rangers (9-10, 7-9 SWC) took full advantage, getting buckets from Dom Farago, Jake Boynar and a 3-pointer from RJ Schneider to cut the Comets’ lead to 49-46 with just over a minute left to play.
“We had opportunities to tie it at the end and we had some times when we thought the game was over,” North Ridgeville coach Bryan Morgan said. “They battled.”
Following Schneider’s 3-pointer, both team’s turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions. This left the Rangers with an opportunity to tie the game with 37 seconds left. North Ridgeville came up
short on a layup attempt with Amherst’s George Gotsis pulling down a key rebound.
The junior was intentionally fouled and stepped to the free throw line with an opportunity to seal the game. He sank both shots to put the game out of reach and helped clinch his team’s first conference title in 28 years.
“I was thinking about the (free throws) that I missed earlier in the game,” said Gotsis, who scored 12 points and hauled in four rebounds. “I had to redeem myself. I was thinking about making them to win (the game).”
Both teams played a relatively even first half with North Ridgeville leading 1512 after one quarter and 2826 at halftime.
The third quarter is where things began to shift. Amherst came out of halftime with a burst of energy and outscored the Rangers 16-8 in the quarter to take a 42-36 lead heading into the fourth.
Austin Bray scored five of his 12 points, while Gotsis added four in the quarter to help swing the momentum in the Comets’ direction.
“(North Ridgeville) came out, punched us in the mouth and we sort of took it,” Pat Bray said. “At halftime we talked about it (and said) the refs are going to let us play, (so) let’s go play. We came out in the third quarter and we played. We made some buckets and we got some stops. We talk about it all the time, getting stops is what wins games.”
The aforementioned fourth quarter was physical and Amherst had to scratch and claw to a victory as North Ridgeville kept fighting back.
The Rangers were paced by Schneider’s game-high 16 points. Boynar was a key rebounder for the home team, hauling in 11 rebounds to go along with his four points.
“(Amherst) got really passive and Amherst is not a
passive team,” Morgan said of his team’s late-game push. “They wanted to start to stall the ball out and try to win the game that way. We stayed aggressive and we said we weren’t going to foul.
“We ended up turning them over and getting some opportunities at the other end. I had some guys that wanted to come play tonight and they did a good job of battling.”
Big moments are a cause for big celebrations as Amherst had music blaring outside of the visiting locker room after the game.
“It’s great,” said senior Ty Weatherspoon, who scored six points and grabbed four rebounds. “I came in and played my sophomore year on varsity and we were not very good. We went 3-19 or something. To see the turnaround our program has had and to be a part of it, it’s tremendous.”
Up next, North Ridgeville hosts Keystone on Feb. 16, while Amherst travels to Keystone on Feb. 19.