First Posted: 2/13/2015
McGUFFEY — The swings in momentum, and emotions, were evident from the very beginning and lasted all the way through an overtime period.
In the end, Perry went to Upper Scioto Valley and grabbed the contest — and first Northwest Central Conference title since 2010 — with a thrilling 74-71 victory.
The Commodores (15-5, 7-0 NWCC) lost a big lead early, came back from 10 points down, and then out-scored the Rams 12-9 in the overtime to earn the hard fought win.
The Rams (15-4, 6-1 NWCC) effectively shut down Perry leading scorer Jared Poling as they used a combination of triangle and two and box and one with Braden Rostorfer shadowing Poling all night. Poling only scored two points in the contest and they came on free throws in the overtime period.
But the Commodores placed four players in double figure scoring, including two non-starters who had huge games for Perry. Wesley Godfrey contributed a career high 15 points while Seth Poling helped pick up his big brother with a 10 point effort.
Perry jumped out to a 18-10 lead after one quarter before the Rams bounced back and closed the deficit to only two points as they trailed 36-34 going to the half-time break.
USV then opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run and quickly grew their lead to 50-40 before Perry mounted a comeback of their own.
“We executed much better on offense in the third quarter,” USV coach Jeff Kloepfer said. “I can’t fault our effort; we made it go down to the end.”
Back and forth the two teams went until Jakoby land-Harvey scored eight straight points for Perry late in the final quarter and the two went to the extra period tied at 62 each.
“We did not fold, we could have but didn’t,” Perry coach Matt Tabler said. “We got a big night from Wesley and the whole team stepped up for Jared plus we made free throws when we had to.”
A couple of costly turnovers by the Rams and 8-of-11 shooting from the free throw line sealed the win for Perry.
The Commodores were paced in scoring by Lane-Harvey with a game-high 19 points while Xavier Monford and Godfrey both tallied 15 and Seth Poling chipped in with 10 points.
“It was a total team effort tonight,” Lane-Harvey said. “My teammates gave me the ball and I was able to score.”
The Rams were led in scoring by Lane Hurley with 18 points, 6-foot-6 Cameron Parker added 15 before fouling out late, and Rostorfer tallied 14 (four 3-pointers) and Blake Stephens totaled 11 in the contest.
Perry hit only 1-of-10 on three point shots while the Rams were converting 7-of-16 in the contest, but the Commodores owned the free throw line, making 21-of-30 charity tosses compared to 12-of-15 by Upper Scioto Valley.
