Southside tops Jay in OT (12/15/07)

MUNCIE - The chances were there. Jay County just couldn't cash in.

The Patriots had an opportunity to win late in regulation, but a 3-pointer went long.

After falling behind in overtime, four missed free throws left the door open for a comeback. However, a couple of failed rebounds following the missed foul shots stifled those chances.

In the end, Wenstone Nash managed to hit four free throws in the final 24 seconds to give his Muncie Southside Rebels a 56-49 overtime victory over the visitors from JCHS.

D.J. Buchanan, who got off a 3-point shot that rimmed out on a play that started with just 0.6 seconds on the clock at the close of regulation, keyed the Rebel victory. His 3-pointer on the opening possession of overtime gave Southside (3-3) a lead it would never relinquish.

"It was huge," said Southside coach Rick Baumgarter of grabbing overtime lead from the get-go. "D.J. showed a lot of courage in coming through in a pressure situation. He was discouraged he missed the one (at the end of regulation) ... but you've got to have a shooter's mentality. You've got to think the next one's going in."

Buchanan hit another triple - his fourth of the game - midway through the extra session to put the Rebels up 48-44, separating the teams by two possessions for the first time since the third quarter. The lead pushed to 50-44, but Southside missed four of its next six free throws.

After the second miss, Jeff Bell swiped an offensive rebound from Billy Wellman. And after the fourth, neither Wellman nor Clint Muhlenkamp could corral the ball before it went out of bounds. In between, the Patriots turned the ball over, and finally Nash buried his four foul shots to finish off the game.

"We gave up too many offensive rebounds," said JCHS coach Craig Teagle, whose team was out-boarded 22-27 overall. "Two or three of them they just out-athleted us, got up and tipped them and kept them alive. But there were three of them that hit our hands and we fumbled around and they came up with or got knocked out of bounds. We've got to have those and secure those."

Jay County (2-3) also held the ball for the final minute of regulation before running a play intended to get Billy Wellman a shot slipping off the back side of a screen. However, the play wasn't there, and Kyle Simmons' 3-point attempt from the left side flew too long.

Buchanan and Nash combined to lead Southside with 16 points apiece.

Nash was 8-of-11 from the free throw line, where the Rebels racked up 18 attempts compared to the Patriots' three. Ten of the Rebel foul shots came in the final 1:40 of overtime.

Bell was equally instrumental to the win as he shot 6-of-7 in the paint for 12 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds to share the game-high with Muhlenkamp.

Bell scored six of Southside's first 11 points as it pushed to an 11-2 lead in the first five minutes. Teagle said those early problems came partly because of his team's impatience on the offensive end, taking quick shots instead of making the 12 to 15 passes called for in the game-plan.

"We spent a couple weeks looking at South, looking at tape, scouting them, and figuring out what we could do to hurt them, how we could dictate game tempo," said Teagle. "And I truly thought if it stayed in the 40s we'd win it. And we could have, but we had a couple breakdowns."

Jay County clawed back, especially hurting the Rebels with end-of-quarter plays.

Billy Wellman's 3-pointer with a second left in the first quarter pulled the Patriots to a 15-11 deficit.

The Patriots pulled even during the second period, but were behind by three before Muhlenkamp scored on an assist from Luke Goetz to make it 23-22 at halftime. And then Wellman hit another 3-pointer off a Goetz assist to close the third quarter, once more pulling JCHS to within a single point.

Neither team managed more than a two-point lead in the fourth quarter.

"Believe it or not, here's what we told them: "At the end of the quarters, they'll run a thing where they run a double-screen on top -they'll loop one guy around and bring another one around.' They got three of them," said Baumgartner, whose team ended a three-game losing streak despite those breakdowns. "That stuff just infuriates me."

"We have to have the toughness to be able to sustain something for 32 minutes. We're not doing it right now. In spots we look real good. In spots where we let down we're average at best. We have to minimize those lulls."

Coming of an 8-of-11 shooting night last week against South Adams, Wellman had a big game. He was over 50 percent from the field again (8-of-15) as he scored a game-high 20 points.

Luke Goetz had nine points and four assists, and Muhlenkamp scored eight points.

Junior varsity

Points were few and far between in the fourth quarter, but when the Patriots needed a hoop Josh Beaty delivered for a 34-32 over Southside.

A pair of Rebel free throws evened the score at 32 with just 32 seconds remaining, and overtime looked likely as Jay County had just two points through the first seven minutes of the quarter. However, Josh Beaty got the ball on the right wing and drove to the hoop for the game-winning lay-up with just 13 seconds remaining.

Beaty blocked a 3-point attempt by Stephon Ruffin on the ensuing possession, and a second Southside shot missed the mark as JCHS survived for the win.

Beaty led all scorers with 15 points, and Eric Homan joined him in double figures with 11. Brad Horn added four points.

Brock Taylor finished with 14 points for the Rebels. Justin Nash and Kevin Robey each added four.[[In-content Ad]]