'We play for each other:' Wyoming loses 2OT thriller in Division IV state semifinals
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The core of the Wyoming boys basketball team has become clutch performers in their third year together.
Despite making one clutch shot after another down the stretch, the Panthers of Zanesville Maysville made one more play than the Cowboys Friday night.
Junior Gator Nichols sank a 3-pointer as time expired in the second overtime, giving Maysville a 75-73 win over the Cowboys in the Division IV state semifinals of the Ohio High School Athletic Association boys basketball tournament.
Wyoming finishes 25-3. Maysville, DII state runner-up last year, advances to next week’s state finals with a 26-3 record.
“It’s a tough feeling right now,” said Wyoming junior Devin Evans. “He made a great shot to win the game. We had a great season. We should hold our heads up because at the end of the day, we marked our spot in the history of the school.”
Wyoming led 13-8 early in the second quarter and didn’t lead again until extra time.
Kellen Wiley’s layup gave Wyoming the 73-72 lead late in the second overtime.
Maysville didn’t call timeout and ran a play. Jordyn Watson missed a 3-pointer. Maysville’s Landon Iden won a battle for the rebound and passed the ball back out to Nichols, Maysville’s leading scorer for the year (25 ppg.). Nichols hit nothing but net to give him a game-high 29 points.
“I just saw the missed shot,” Nichols said. “He got the rebound. I was pretty open up top and I knew my guy would find me.”
Maysville had lost to Alter in the DII state final last year, the same team that eliminated Wyoming in the regional finals, and who the Cowboys defeated last weekend in the regional final.
Despite the tough finish, head coach Matt Rooks is proud of his team’s resilience.
“What makes us good is that maturity,” Rooks said. “Mentally, the maturity of just getting older and learning the game, and playing. Not forcing things, relaxing. We were tested and our guys didn’t panic where last year they would do things that hurt us. We got down 10 which was our biggest deficit all year, and they were even keel. They just made plays. I’m proud of them. It would have been easy to quit (down 10, but just one play at a time.”
Wyoming reflects on the journey
Wyoming has a core of four three-year starters who are juniors, and two seniors in Billy Lyons and Alex Lowe who played key minutes Friday.
Making a run at a state title meant a lot to them as they played in front of a capacity crowd of more than 2,200 at Wittenberg’s Smith Arena.
Wiley was emotional as he reflected on what Wyoming basketball means to him.
“If I could put it into one word, that word is passion,” Wiley said. “We play for each other, the name on the front of the jersey. We play for everyone who comes to the game. The whole community was here and it sucks that we couldn’t do it for them. When you hit a shot, and you look up and see the kids in your math class going crazy, the guys you talk to on a daily basis going crazy for you. It lights a fire in you and makes you want to keep going. I got nothing but love for these guys.”
Final stats
Kellen Wiley finished with 25 points and three assists. He was 10-of-14 shooting and also blocked three shots.
Evans scored 23, making 5-of-8 3-pointers with six rebounds. Darren Gray had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
“That’s a hell of a basketball team,” said Maysville head coach Dave Brown. “They just beat Alter. The Wiley kid, my goodness, he’s a player. We just made one more play than them tonight. Our kids never stopped fighting.”
Wyoming had unlikely heroes, as sophomore Reid Bornholdt made a layup in the final seconds to send the game to overtime.
Wyoming’s bench played a key role, with senior Billy Lyons, and junior Nick Wilhelm also getting key minutes.
For Maysville, Nicholas had 29 points and 4 assists. Jordyn Watson scored 18 and Kane Roehrig 14.
Maysville’s 3-pointers were a big focus
Rooks was hoping to hold the Panthers to eight 3-pointers or less. They make 11 per game.
Maysville nearly matched that total in the third quarter and finished with 12 for the game, including Nichols’ game-winner. Nichols, Watson and Kane Roehrig each had four as the Panthers shot 12-of-21 from behind the arc.
Maysville made 10 3-pointers in the first two and a half quarters, the last, by Roehrig, giving Maysville a nine-point lead at 35-26.
After that, Wyoming made a concerted effort to extend the defense and limit the three, but the Panthers were able to get some layups off of that.
Wyoming made five of its own 3-pointers during regulation, three by Evans and two by Wiley, and needed all of them as they couldn’t climb back all the way until the very end of regulation.
Maysville took a five-point lead with a minute left in regulation when Jordyn Watson intercepted a bad Wyoming pass at midcourt and sprinted the rest of the way for a layup.
Evans responded with an off-balance fadeaway 3-pointer to pull the Cowboys back within two at 59-57.
Maysville made 2-of-4 free throws after that. Trailing 61-59, Wyoming forced overtime when Wiley fired a pass from midcourt to Bornholdt, who scored a layup.
Wyoming was 7-of-14 from behind the arc and 29-of-50 (58 percent) overall from the floor. But the Cowboys were only 8-of-17 from the foul line, starting 2 for 10.
Overtime highlights in Division IV state semifinals
In the first overtime, the teams traded leads. Gray made a tough shot in the lane to tie it in the final seconds, and Nichols missed a jumper at the buzzer.
In the second overtime, Wyoming led by four at 71-67 after two free throws by Evans. Watson made a 3, the team’s first since the third quarter, to make it 71-70.
Roehrig intercepted a Wyoming pass, leading to a layup by Nichols to put Maysville back up one at 72-71, setting up Wiley’s shot.
Wiley sprained an ankle late in the first quarter and missed the final three minutes of that period. He came back with a wrap on that ankle and barely came out the rest of the way.
“Losing on a shot like that, that’s not something that happens to us often,” Wiley said. “It’s more adversity. We got one more year. We’re a really young team, a more experienced team now too. Going into our senior year, it’s going to be in the back of our heads.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Wyoming loses at the buzzer in boys basketball state semifinals
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