Stow, Ohio - On Friday night Stow-Munroe’s gym was packed with everyone wanting to see a the big game between the Bulldogs and Nordonia Knights. Stow-Munroe was 7-1 entering the game while Nordonia was 8-1. It had the makings of a great game and it certainly lived up to the hype!
The first points were scored by Stow’s Reece Raymond-Smith on a corner 3-pointer. The next possession Raymond-Smith got a put back layup to fall.
The game so far was very back-and-forth, no team really taking a big advantage. The score was 14 a piece at the end of the first quarter.
To start the second, Stow took the lead on a Nate Boozer triple. Then Raymond-Smith got a steal and got a layup in transition, extending their lead. Right afterwards, AJ Pestello hit an and-one for Stow, keeping their momentum going.
The student section for Stow kept shouting and yelling at Nordonia’s student section, since they were the ones with the momentum. The score at halftime was 30-18 in favor of Stow.
To start the next half, Stow went on a bit of an offensive drought going cold from the floor. Titus Baskerville had a bit of his own streak going for Stow however.
After three back-to-back triples by Nordonia, they were down by only one. They later took the lead on a layup after a picked off pass. Nordonia had the lead 35-34 after three.
To start the fourth quarter Nordonia hit another 3-pointer, keeping their momentum from the third quarter. However, Baskerville hit an and-one, but missed his free throw and Stow got the ball back.
Baskerville hit a tough mid-range shot with less than two minutes left, but then Nordonia hit their own layup to counteract Stow’s shot. Raymond-Smith got fouled on a put back layup with one second left, and they were down by one. He hit one of two to send it to overtime.
To start OT Nordonia hit a 3-pointer, striking again from deep. Baskerville hit a reverse layup right after this, cutting the Stow deficit to one. However, Stow later tied the game up with another layup by Baskerville to force double overtime.
To start the second overtime, Baskerville hit one free throw taking the lead. Later, he took two more free throws to put the Bulldogs up three. The crowd was deafening, but tense. Nordonia was down by three but hit a big triple to send it into triple overtime.
To start the third OT, both teams missed their first two shots, and it was tense on both ends. Both sides weren’t giving up, and it was still tied with thirty seconds left. Liam Gopalakrishina hit a contested shot with 1.7 seconds on the clock to give Nordonia a 66-64 lead. That would be the final score as the Knights pulled out the triple OT thriller. Gopalakrishina led the way with 13 points.
This game recap is brought to you by Daystar Ford