Kirtland, Ohio - On Tuesday night the Kirtland Hornets were at home to face off against the Cardinal Huskies. Both teams had solid records with Cardinal coming in at 9-7 while Kirtland was 9-6. Earlier this season Kirtland beat Cardinal 70-68.
Winning the tip was Kirtland, and Owen Mueller immediately scored a layup inside to get the first points of the game. However Paul Gall got an offensive rebound to a put back for Cardinal later on.
Jacob Bean hit a tough fadeaway for Cardinal, and Ethan Detweiler scored inside also for Cardinal. The score was 14-12 at the end of the first with the Huskies taking the early lead.
To start the next quarter, Nickolas Barisic got his defender in the air with a pump fake, then scored an easy layup. Kirtland was playing with more aggression on both sides in the second, getting stops and going up by six with about two minutes left in the half. Kirtland led 23-17 at the half.
To start the second half, Cardinal hit a 3-pointer cutting the lead to three. Both sides kept the pressure up inside with most of the shots coming from in the paint.
Bean got in isolation sizing up his defender and was able to get a layup to fall inside cutting the lead to one. Tyler O’Brien got the ball on the wing, and hit a triple, taking the lead for Cardinal. The score at the end of the third was 31-27 in favor of Cardinal.
To start the fourth, Kirtland blocked a shot inside, but then Cardinal blocked a shot on the other end. Cardinal was up by eight at one point, going on a solid run to start the quarter.
Vince Carrerio got an and-one right after picking off a pass to get in transition. With one minute left, Cardinal was up by six. Kirtland scored the final 6 point making it a tie game. Overtime in Kirtland.
To win the overtime tip ball, Bean got his own board, and passed to O’Brien for a three ball. The game was tied with a minute left at 46. With 5.6 seconds left, Kirtland had the ball after a timeout. However, Kirtland missed a potential game winner and we headed to a 2nd overtime.
In double overtime Kirtland scored the first points after two minutes, a layup. Bean missed a wide open layup on the other end, and then Kirtland tacked on another two points at the foul line. Right after that Cardinal hit a 3-pointer and cut the lead to one.
With less than thirty seconds left, Kirtland hit two more free throws, and Bean missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game. Kirtland hung on for a 54-49 win. Vince Carriero led the way with 15 points for the Hornets. while Troy Domen paced the Huskies with 12 points.
I spoke with Kirtland coach Shawn McGregor after the big win.
This recap is brought to you by Daystar Ford
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