PORT ALLEGANY – There was a common refrain heard amongst those leaving the contest between Port Allegany and Oswayo Valley boys on Thursday night: “That was a heck of a game.”
After falling to the Gators 60-57 back on Jan. 9, OV got their revenge in the most dramatic way possible.
A buzzer-beating shot by Garren Black with less than three seconds left on the clock gave the Green Wave a heart-stopping 62-60 victory.
“Kind of an unlikely guy to hit the shot for us but he came up big,” OV coach Clark Cummings said, sporting a big smile after the game. “Big shot for Garren to step in there and take that and have confidence that he could make it.”
After causing a turnover on a Gators inbound play, Black wound up with the ball near the top of the arc. After taking a quick peek down the court, Black got himself some room and let heave a running shot that found the bottom of the net.
It was the second straight tough loss for coach Jeff Stuckey’s team, which fell to Otto-Eldred 47-45 on Tuesday. Stuckey felt it was fitting that each team got a win against the other in dramatic fashion this season.
“It was reverse-karma,” he said. “Super game; we got the lead, then we got a little careless. We don’t think about the clock sometimes.”
While the game was close throughout, the Gators had a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter after David Talkington hit a nice turnaround jumper to make it 27-17.
Theo Henry was single-handedly keeping the Green Wave in the game in the first half, scoring 11 of OV’s 13 first-quarter points. He would finish with a game-high 21 points.
In the second quarter, though, Henry started to get some help, as baskets by Black, Gavin Babcock and Jacob Karr helped the Green Wave cut the deficit to 27-25 going into halftime.
Port Allegany’s offense was sparked by Brandon McCaslin, who made several acrobatic moves to the basket en route to a team-leading 20 points.
The Gators were also showing off their skill on the defensive end, with Talkington and Howie Stuckey coming up with a pair of big blocks on successive possessions.
With under a minute left in the third, Garrett Babcock (13 points) and Talkington (14) exchanged 3-pointers to send the game into the final quarter tied 42-42.
As the pressure increased, both teams seemed to get a little jittery with the ball. Both sides gave up some sloppy turnovers in the final frame, but neither could find a way to establish an advantage.
The final minute-and-a-half of action was the definition of back-and-forth basketball.
“Pretty much the whole second half was back and forth,” Cummings said. “You just had a feeling it was going to come down to the end.”
After an OV turnover, McCaslin tied the game at 55-55 on a fast break bucket with 1:21 left on the clock.
On the very next possession, though, the Gators suffered a big loss when Jordan Bell fouled out after Henry went at him aggressively in the paint off a missed shot, eventually sinking both free throws to put the Green Wave back in front.
“When we get ahead, we can’t just go down, put up a shot and not burn any time,” Stuckey said. “That’s been a nemesis of ours as well as boxing out. We’re not boxing out; we’re hitting the boards well, but we’re not isolating the guy on the other side, so every tip goes to somebody on the weak side and they get an easy layup.”
The Gators didn’t waver, though, coming right back down the court and taking a 58-57 lead on a Howie Stuckey 3-point shot. That too was answered quickly by an and-one play by Black that made it 60-58 Oswayo Valley.
After Stuckey tied it again at 60-60 with 38 seconds left, Talkington came up with another huge block. Combined with another OV turnover the Gators had a chance to win with less than 20 seconds to go.
But Port Allegany’s inbound play didn’t go as planned, as they got stuck in the far corner and wound up giving the ball away. The rest was history.
“That wasn’t really the plan to go into the corner,” Stuckey said. “I don’t why we decided to do that. We wanted to work it over, reverse it and get a shot off. Worst-case scenario we go into overtime, but we rushed a little bit at the end.”
The win clinched a spot in the District 9 playoffs for the Green Wave, which improve to 11-8 overall and 7-6 in North Tier League play. Oswayo Valley will host Northern Potter on Monday.
Port Allegany falls to 11-9 overall and 9-5 in league play with a visit to Cameron County on Monday next on the schedule.
Despite back-to-back tough defeats, coach Stuckey has confidence that his team has what it takes to come back even stronger.
“We’ve had some hard knocks,” he said. “It gives them a little fire in the gut and after a tough loss like that, Monday I think they’ll come out firing again and hopefully we’ll get another win.”
At PORT ALLEGANY
Oswayo Valley (62)
Garrett Babcock 5 0-0 13, Theo Henry 7 6-9 21, Gavin Babcock 4 2-3 11, Karr 3 1-2 7, Garren Black 4 2-4 10, Totals 23 11-18 62.
Port Allegany (60)
David Talkington 6 0-02 14, Brandon McCaslin 10 0-0 20, Howie Stuckey 7 0-0 16, MacKenzie 1 0-0 2, Lashway 1 0-0 2, Bell 2 2-2 6, Totals 27 2-4 60.
Oswayo Valley 13 25 42 62
Port Allegany 17 27 42 60
Three-point FGs: Oswayo Valley 5 (Garrett Babcock 3, Henry, Gavin Babcock), Port Allegany 4 (Talkington 2, Stuckey 2)
Total fouls: Oswayo Valley 9, Port Allegany 15. Fouled out: Bell (Port Allegany)
JV score: Port Allegany won
