Benet forces Neuqua Valley to win in OT
Wow.
That was the thought watching No. 17 seed Benet push No. 1 seed Neuqua Valley to the brink of elimination in Tuesday's Class 4A Batavia regional semifinal.
Rallying from a 3-point deficit with 1:09 left in regulation, and coming back again down 5 with 1:39 in overtime, Neuqua Valley survived 59-57.
"Can I get my raise now?" Wildcats coach Todd Sutton kidded Neuqua athletic director Barb Barrows after the tense contest, which sends Neuqua Valley to Friday's regional final against the winner of today's semifinal between No. 8 Geneva and No. 9 Batavia.
Inbounding the ball in front of his own bench with 3.7 seconds left in overtime, Ryan Wagner found Dwayne Evans swooping across the lane toward him off a screen. At the low block Evans turned and banked in the game-winner with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime.
Benet coach Gene Heidkamp called timeout, and out of it Mike Runger threw a baseball pass to Joe Meyerhoff, whose 35-footer was on target but just short.
"We knew they weren't a pushover, they won (Monday). So we were ready for this kind of game," said Evans, who scored 21 points with 14 rebounds and 4 steals. "We didn't know it was going to go into overtime, but we were ready for something like this."
Neuqua (28-1) was in position when after Derek Raridon hit a 3 to tie the score at 57-57, Wagner drew a charge on the defensive end. His game-winning assist came on a play Sutton drew up the first time this season.
Benet (12-15) scored the first 5 points of overtime on a 3 by Phil Hayes and a Dave Sobolewski lefty drive.
"We knew kind of coming in that any game's going to be close," Wagner said. "It's not like we're going to blow people out. Still, when we were down five with a minute left you're a bit skeptical."
There was plenty to be skeptical about. Rallying from a 14-9 first-quarter deficit, Benet led at halftime 23-21 behind the nearly unstoppable 6-foot-8 Meyerhoff, who scored 26 points with 13 rebounds.
"The toughest team usually wins," Sutton said. "They didn't tonight."
But then it was Benet's turn to be nervous. Evans, who scored just 2 first-half points on 2-of-4 foul shooting, scored 11 points with 3 steals in a three-minute span to help give the Wildcats a 34-27 lead at 3:16 of the third quarter.
Heidkamp took time and Austin Wagner canned a pair of 3s. The Redwings got baskets by Hayes and Sobolewski to pull within 40-38 entering the fourth quarter.
"They could have crumbled," Heidkamp said. "A team like that could have put a 10-0 run on us and it would have been 17 points. Our kids hit a big 3 to keep us in the game and they just stayed together. It hurts that the season's over because we're really starting to play better basketball."
Benet countered a 48-43 deficit with a 9-1 run led by sophomore Sobolewski, who finished with 11 points.
Neuqua forced overtime when Evans made a pair of free throws, tied up a Redwing on the inbounds play to return possession to the Wildcats, and Amedu scored his 13th point on a free throw with 29.3 seconds left.
Meyerhoff nearly won it on a putback try at the buzzer, his bank shot just rimming off.
"For us seniors," Meyerhoff said, "I think it was a great way for us to go out. No one expected us to play with these guys at all. To be within two points, other than a win this is all we could ask for."