This one had all the excitement you would expect from a double overtime matchup as the Eagles played their fourth straight game that went right down to the wire. While the result was a loss, you can't put a price on the kind of experience this provides for young Two Eagle.
"These games make us stronger," said Two Eagle head coach Clayton Malatare, Sr. His son Clayton hit three three-pointers in the first half to help the Eagles build their lead.
"Clay is there every game," Malatare said. "He's finally starting to shoot the dang ball."
The Eagles jumped out to a 20-11 lead in the first quarter as Skyler Rossbach scored six points in the period and Two Eagle went on a 15-0 run.
Noxon showed fight in the second period but couldn't cut into the lead too much, trailing 37-29 at the half. After trading blows in the third, the Red Devils went on a 10-1 run in the fourth to take the 67-65 lead with less than a minute left in the game.
Two Eagle's Artie Mendoza came through in the clutch, hitting the game-tying basket with 14.7 seconds to go in regulation. Noxon had a big chance to take the lead but two missed technical foul shots, thanks to the loud and proud Two Eagle crowd, to send the game into overtime.
"We played our hearts out," Malatare said. "We had some foul trouble. The young guys came in a played tough."
In overtime, it was Marcus Brown time as the junior scored six points for the Eagles in extra time. It looked like Two Eagle had control but Noxon scored the final five points of the period, including a miracle three-pointer as time expired for a second overtime.
"Marcus stepped up well and he's stepped up for us all year inside," Malatare said. "For his size he plays way bigger."
In the second overtime, Noxon pulled away for the victory but it wasn't east as Two Eagle had several chances but just couldn't get a field goal to fall.
"Their bigs got the best of us," Malatare said of the post play for Noxon in the game.
Five Eagles were in double digits.
Two Eagle - 20 - 17 - 18 - 12 - 7 - 3 - 77
Noxon - 11 - 18 - 16 - 22 - 7 - 8 - 82
Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 17, Clayton Malatare 16, TJ Cutfinger 15, Artie Mendoza 13, Skyler Rossbach 10, Trevor Butterfly 4, Wesley Nowlan 2
Here are some photos from the game...
No comments:
Post a Comment