Waubonsie solves Metea in overtime

In a game that saw 16 lead changes and 12 ties, Waubonsie Valley's Brandon Malby pulled out the victory on the final play of overtime against an undefeated Metea Valley squad Wednesday night.

Down 61-60 with three seconds left in the extra period, Tyler Yanisch threw an inbounds pass to a cutting Malby whose left-handed layup as time expired gave the Warriors a 62-61 victory and handed the Mustangs their first loss of the season.

It was a play, according to Malby, that was run just as it had been drawn up during the team's final timeout.

"I set a screen for Jared (Brownridge) and then cut hard to the basket," Malby said. "Tyler made a great pass and coach (Steve) Weemer made a great call."

Weemer couldn't have been happier with his team's execution of the game-winning play.

"That's a play we had wanted to run," Weemer said. "When it comes right down to it, the kids have to make plays and Brandon executed the play. We just beat a very good team tonight."

For the first three quarters neither team held a lead bigger than four points when Metea Valley (14-1, 5-1) led 7-3 early in the contest.

By the fourth quarter it looked as if Waubonsie Valley (11-4, 4-1) would pull away in front of its home crowd after a Brownridge 3-pointer put the Warriors up 51-43 with 4:55 left.

An inside basket along with a pair of technical foul shots from Kenny Obendorf kept Metea Valley close before a 3-pointer from Lashawn Cargo at the top of the key trimmed the Warriors' lead to 53-50.

"Metea Valley is a team that can score in bunches," Weemer said. "We knew that an 8-point lead isn't safe against that team."

Down 56-54, Metea Valley's Ryan Solomon was fouled pulling down a rebound. After a timeout Solomon calmly sank both free throws to tie the game at 56 with 45 seconds left in regulation.

In the overtime period the teams traded leads three times in the final minute. Brownridge was fouled grabbing a rebound off a missed Metea Valley shot and made both free throws to put his team up 60-58.

Cargo followed that up with another 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to give the Mustangs their final lead of the night before Malby's game-winning layup.

"It's a rivalry game. I wish we could have come out with a win tonight," Solomon said. "That was the most intense game we've had all year."