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| St. Vincent-St. Mary junior Caleb Hill shoots over Avanti Caldwell. Hill finished with 8 points and had a strong first half of play. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com) |
AKRON, Ohio - LeBron James Arena was the spot to catch the action as cross-town teams battled it out in overtime. St. Vincent-St. Mary secured a thrilling 3-point victory in overtime.
With a three-game losing streak, the Irish were ready to secure a victory against Akron Garfield CLC.
"We wanted the kids to know it was possession, possession at a time," said Joyce.
In the first quarter, the Irish managed to take charge of the game; even though the score was close, the momentum was definitely on their side.
"I feel like we did well, seeing they couldn't handle pressure the best," said Cotton. A dunk by Leigh Cotton with a little over six minutes left in the quarter kept them ahead with a hand from junior Caleb Hill, who had a strong first half.
Still, that lead was short-lived as Garfield took over with an 11-10 score thanks to a layup from Monty Thompson Jr. After a few changes in the lead, the game ended the quarter tied at 15-15, with Terion Chapman scoring the final points of the period.
Hamilton didn't score until the 1:19 mark of the first quarter.
During the second quarter, the game remained tight. However, at the 1:04 mark of the half, Garfield's wingman, Rayshawn Hamilton, went down, holding his right lower leg, and needed some help to be carried off the court to the locker room. St. Vincent-St. Mary takes a 27-25 lead into halftime.
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| Rayshawn Hamilton attempts to make a shot over Luis Santiago. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com) |
Opening up the second half, Garfield comes out aggressively, shooting from the outside, and they would take the lead and increase it with a comfortable 43-34 score, even after Hamilton would re-enter the game, still nursing the lower right leg injury.
It would be all Garfield down the stretch of the fourth quarter until sophomore Terek Harris (sibling of St. Vincent-St. Mary alum Sencire Harris) ties the game up at 54-54 with just over a minute to go in regulation. The game would head into overtime.
DeCarlo Prince would add 14 points to help pace the Irish. "So we knew we had to stay composed, came out in the fourth quarter, did what we had to do and won," elaborated Prince.
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| Leigh Cotton looks to pass around an extended Reggie Edwards of Garfield. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com) |
Overtime period
The Irish won the tip-off, and the game started to favor them as they took a 56-54 lead with just 2:09 remaining. Garfield had no options left as Monty Thompson made a three-pointer, narrowing the score to 63-61 with only seconds left in the game.
With no timeouts available, they had to commit a pair of fouls to stop the clock. St. Vincent-St. Mary managed to hold on in a thrilling match, improving their record to 5-4 for the season, as they prepare for their next game against Brunswick.
Garfield will look to regroup after only losing their second game of the season, falling to 8-2, where they meet up against Akron Buchtel.
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