Coast to coast works for Neuqua Valley in 2nd OT
Neuqua Valley senior Joe Sieger looked for the high-percentage shot to end a long boys basketball evening on the road against cross-town rival Metea Valley.
With seven seconds left in the second overtime and the Wildcats down 1, Sieger took an inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the court and ended the game with a layup basket with 1.2 seconds left, resulting in an 84-83 Neuqua victory.
"(Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton) told me to get the ball because the other guys had fouled out," Sieger said. "I wanted to get a shot off at the end and saw that there was enough time on the clock to go coast-to-coast. That's a high-percentage shot, so that's the one I took."
Metea Valley looked to have the game in hand with 2:17 left in regulation when Montrell Oliver hit both of his free throws to give the Mustangs a 66-58 lead.
Following a Sieger layup, the Mustangs turned the ball over on their next two possessions, leading to two straight 3-pointers from Sieger and Ryan Phillips. That tied the game 66-66 with 1:22 left and erasing Metea's 8-point lead in just less than a minute.
"That fourth quarter comeback was huge," Sutton said. "In the last three minutes I don't think (Metea Valley) scored and we really played defense and you started seeing guys make shots."
In the first overtime it was Neuqua's turn to look like it had the game in hand. The Wildcats held a 76-73 lead with 17 seconds left after a pair of Jacob Cushing free throws.
But Mustangs senior Matt Helwig connected on his sixth 3-pointer of the night with five seconds left to send the game into a second overtime.
"Matt showed good senior leadership and hit a lot of big shots when we needed them," Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said. "I liked his aggressiveness and stability out there."
The Wildcats jumped all over the host in the first quarter as Cushing scored 13 of his game-high 30 points in that span, leading to a 23-7 lead.
The Mustangs clawed their way back with a 30-12 second-quarter scoring advantage, including a putback by Malik Hall at the buzzer that gave his team a 37-35 halftime lead.
"(Neuqua Valley) was obviously ready to go and we weren't early with our execution," Vozza said. "In that second quarter we found some guys who could defend and make them work for their shots, and we got back in the game with transition."