Comeback topples Colts
It was hardwood drama at its finest, it just didn’t unfold the way the McCoy Colts boys basketball team had it drawn up.
Chris Ogie completed a nine-point comeback for the underdog Morinville Wolves on a game-winning layup with just four seconds left on the clock in the Alberta Schools Athletics Association 3A championship at Crescent Heights High School on Thursday. The Colts had a final chance to secure the victory on Francis Villar’s buzzer-beating shot from threepoint territory, but the ball rang off the rim and fell to the court below, sending the Wolves into a frenzy.
“My coach was yelling at me to go in so I just sprinted in, got that ball and put it in, and everything was calm from there on,” said Ogie. “The fourth quarter we just came out, played our game and did great. We came out boxing out hard, we rebounded and chose the good shots and made them. It was a great quarter.”
The 12th-seeded Wolves battled their way back into the contest after falling into a 10point deficit early in the fourth. While the fifthranked Colts seemed to regain control when Easton Brooks sunk a bucket from the top of the key before adding another to stretch the lead back to five in the game’s final moments, Morinville’s Ogie and Bo Cornell stole away the underdog victory with some clutch magic in the last minute.
Ogie dropped in a layup, then Cornell repeated the feat off a steal before Ogie struck again for the game-winner with four seconds left.
“They rebounded the ball really well in the fourth quarter. They hit some big shots and we kind of quit scoring in the second half so that made it tough for us,” said Colts coach B.J. Melle, adding they’ll have to shake off the loss for this afternoon’s consolation match at 2 p.m. (versus St. Albert). “We’ve just got to refocus so we can come out and play hard.”
Ogie finished the night with 13 points for Morinville, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter, while Liam O’Connor had a team-high 17 and Cornell added 16.
McCoy’s Jace Anton shared the game-high of 17 points after missing a considerable amount of time with a broken jaw. Cole Fandrick added 12 for the Colts.
“It was a great effort. The first quarter and second quarter we thought we might not win this game,” Ogie said of the Colts. “They did everything great, they’re a great team.”
The Wolves will face Brooks in the quarterfinals today at 10 a.m.