Colonel boys edge Broadway in OT

WINCHESTER — It took an extra five minutes to do it, but James Wood overcame a pesky Broadway team to win 51-44 in overtime in a non-district boys’ basketball game at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium on Thursday night.

Leading by four, 28-24, heading into the final eight minutes of play in a defensive struggle that featured more fouls and turnovers than points, the Colonels (3-3) had to fight desperately to hold off the Gobblers (0-6), who refused to go away.

“We were a little flat in the second quarter,” Wood coach Tim Wygant said. “We’re down five guys right now though. We have three guys hurt and two sick. That was tough, but our guys really stepped up and gutted through at the end. We got some great play from our younger kids who we’re really [not] counting on to play in that kind of situation late in a game. They gave us some real quality minutes at the end and that was the difference tonight.”

After Samuel Costin converted one of two attempts from the foul line to draw Wood within one, Gobbler guard Jaxson Jameson answered with a 3-pointer, his fifth of the night, to put Broadway up 35-31 with 2:51 left in the game.

What saved the Colonels was that three Broadway starters were playing with four fouls each, and Aidan Houser’s ability to hit free throws when it mattered.

With 2:34 left Keim, who had played an important role in the Gobblers’ resurgence, left the game with five fouls. Houser hit both of his ensuing free throws to draw the Colonels to within two, 35-33. Moments later, Costin hit a 10-foot jumper to tie it at 35.

After Houser nailed another pair of free throws to put Wood up again with just 1:34 remaining, Broadway answered just 30 seconds later to tie the score again 37-37 on a jumper by Tyler Phares.

When Trenton Campbell scored on a layup with just 44 seconds left, it looked like the Colonels had finally taken the lead for good. But Phares tipped in a rebound with just three seconds on the clock to send the game into overtime.

Jameson nailed another 3-pointer to begin the overtime period, but fouls quickly erased the freshman’s effort. The Gobblers committed eight fouls in the overtime, sending Wood to the line for 14 free throws. Wood converted nine of those to seal the win.

Most of the game was a defensive struggle with neither team having much luck penetrating the other team’s defense. Wood held a tenuous 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to six Gobbler turnovers.

That lead, however, didn’t last long when the Colonels committed nine second-period turnovers and shot just 1 of 4 from the field and 2 of 8 from the line.

Jameson also used the second quarter to light up the scoreboard with 3-pointers, scoring on three of his six 3s for the night during the period.

“We played really hard out there,” Costin said. “We lost it a little bit in the second half, but we brought it back late in the game. I thought that we played tough in the final minutes of the game, and that won it for us.”

‘There were a fair amount of mistakes by both teams, but I still think it was good basketball,” Wygant said. “It was one of those games where whoever made the least amount of mistakes was going to win.”

The third quarter was a complete reversal of the second, as the Gobblers lost their ability to score hitting just 1 of 10 from the field and only 1 of 4 from the line. Houser was Wood’s main weapon during the quarter, hitting six of his game-high 19 points during the period to propel the Colonels to a 26-24 lead at the end of the third.

Costin also scored in double figures for Wood with 13 points, nine of which came in the critical fourth period and overtime. Noah Sullivan added 11 points, and Campbell chipped in eight for the Colonels.

Jameson led the Gobblers with 18 points. Phares scored eight, and Keim had six points for Broadway.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish games out,” Broadway coach Dwight Walton said. “We made a lot of mistakes, and Wood hit their shots when they needed to. We played hard, but we’re still making too many mistakes.”