Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WILLIAMSPORT — With 1:38 left in regulation on Tuesday, Westfall’s Joe Wray went to the scorer’s table to check back in with his team trailing by five points.
The dynamic of the game completely changed upon his return to the court. He quickly dished an assist to Haden Rigsby for a corner 3, followed by snatching a steal and adding a layup.
He helped push the game into overtime, and proceeded to score eight of the team’s next 15 points — which was just enough for the Mustangs to survive a scare and beat Piketon by a 61-59 final.
“We sat him down for a while in the second half, but he did a great job of coming back in when his number was called and played with some great energy,” Westfall coach Kyle Joseph said. “He made a pass for a corner trey that we really needed, and kept the momentum from that point on. He’s a tremendous player and we need to see more of that moving forward.”
CREDIT: Erica Fike/SOSA
Wray finished the night with 21 points — 12 of which came in the final 5:38 of the game. But he wasn’t alone in his efforts.
Bryan Craig attacked the basket relentlessly in the second half, finishing with 12 points of his own, while Rigsby knocked down three of the Mustangs’ five triples on the night, adding 12 points as well.
“We have a team of competitors, and they’re going to keep battling until the clock hits all zeros,” Joseph said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games this season, so we knew how to handle the moment. We lost our first two games, and we played really tight in those closing minutes. But we definitely played a little more free this time.”
Wray opened the game with the first six points for Westfall (4-2, 4-1 SVC), putting his team ahead 6-4 early. Luke Gullion and Jayce Johnson connected from distance to keep Piketon afloat, but Rigsby and Jacob Hicks scored to keep the Mustangs ahead 13-12 after the first quarter.
Both offenses hit a wall in the second.
Westfall continued to shoot from deep, but wasn’t connecting. Bo Henry scored four points for Piketon (2-6, 1-4 SVC), but the Mustangs won the frame by a 7-5 margin to hold onto a 20-17 halftime lead.
“Piketon is a great defensive team and very well-coached, so we knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game by any stretch,” Joseph said. “We had some good looks that we wanted throughout the half, but shots just didn’t fall. As long as the right play continued to be made, they were eventually going to fall and we just had to keep trusting each other.”
Henry continued to go on the attack for Piketon, scoring six of its opening eight points in the third to cut the lead to 27-25. After a bucket from Treven Shanks tied the game, Johnson splashed a 3-ball to cap a 7-0 run and give the Redstreaks their first lead at 30-27.
With timing winding down and Piketon leading by one, Jace Ritchie buried a triple, off an assist from Henry, to take a 35-31 lead into the fourth.
Hicks and Craig scored to tie the game at 35, but Shanks connected from distance, followed by a steal and a bucket from Johnson to put the Redstreaks back up 40-35.
Later ahead 42-37, Wray returned to the game and, three possessions later — after a Rigsby 3, a Craig steal and a bucket, and a Wray three-point play the hard way — it was a 45-42 game.
Wray split a pair at the line to make it 46-44, but Piketon answered when Ritchie connected on a layup to tie the game and send the contest into overtime.
Craig, Wray and Ethan Rose all connected on buckets to open the overtime period, offsetting a pair of shots from Henry to stay ahead. It came down to free throws, which the trio connected on 7-of-12 tries. That was enough to keep the distance and close out the win.
“Things aren’t always going to be perfect, but being in a bunch of close games, we’ve somewhat figured out what we have to do to pull out the victory,” Joseph said. “There’s still things we have to fix to avoid putting us in that situation. But this is a huge victory for us. Our goal is to compete for a league title, and having these types of victories are important. We dropped an early one to Zane Trace, so every game from here is just as important as the next one and there’s no margin for error.”
For Piketon, Henry finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Ritchie had 14 points and seven assists off the bench. Johnson added 11 points.
Both teams return to SVC action on Friday. While Piketon hosts Adena, Westfall travels to Southeastern.
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