Spartans win OT thriller against Tigers
In a tight back-and-forth game that went to overtime, Senior Spartan Aiden Flathers was fouled, sending him to the free throw line where he made two buckets putting the Spartans up five points en route to a 66-55 victory.
“I’m extremely happy with our team,” Flathers said. “It’s hard to beat a team twice. We got them the first time, and then they went on a 13-game win streak, so they were hot. We knew it was going to be a good fight and they were going to be ready, but so were we, and I’m glad we stepped into the challenge and got it done.”
Senior Spartan Jaiden Pettepier scored the first five points of the game getting his team an early lead, but the Tigers responded back with Sophomore Jax Pryor scoring the first Tiger bucket on a free throw, followed by a mid-range shot from Pryor, and a 3-pointer from Junior Carter Gruver as both teams were tied at nine heading into the second quarter.
The Tigers took command of the game in the second quarter opening with a 5-0 run, but Flathers got his team back in it with a 3-point shot, followed by another 3-pointer from Senior Jameson Kilworth.
Another 6-0 run occurred from the Tiger offense that was capped off by a 3-pointer Sophomore Brody Pryor, but Junior Spartan Josh Nelson answered back with his own 3-point shot, putting the Spartans down 23-18 heading into the locker room at halftime.
“Both coaches actually said it’s all about heart,” Flathers said. “We kind of got punched in the mouth with a couple of things that didn’t go our way. We faced a lot of adversity, but both coaches said to dig down deep because it’s going to be the team that wants it more.”
The Spartans came out ready to go in the third quarter striking back at the Tigers with a free throw from Senior Cash Emgarten and a mid-range basket from Kilworth making it a 2-point game. The Tigers had an answer as they got shots from Brody Pryor and Gruver. Following that both teams continued to exchange buckets with the Spartans trailing by seven points entering the final quarter.
The Spartans got off to a good start in the fourth quarter when Nelson launched a shot from 3-point ranges, followed by a free throw from Emgarten and another 3-pointer from Flathers that put the Spartans down only two.
Less than a minute later, Kilworth was fouled, sending him to the line where he tied the game at 36, making both shots, forcing Tigers head coach Kyle Bartels to use a timeout.
When play resumed, Emgarten gave the Spartans their first lead since the first quarter with a free throw, followed by 3-pointers from Emgarten and Flathers that had the Spartans up by four. The Tigers answered back a 3-pointer from Carson Kelley, followed by a game tying bucket from Jax Pryor to force overtime.
In overtime, the game remained close with both teams battling back-and-forth until Flathers was fouled, making both free throws which started a chain of free throw shots to lead the Spartans to victory.
“Credit to Woodbine,” said Spartan Head Coach Tony Santisteban. “[Kyle] Bartels does a good job over there, and he gets his guys ready to go. [Carter] Gruver is such a tough player, and sometimes luck has to go your way.”
The Spartans will be back in action Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on the road against the 1-15 Paton-Churdan Rockets. The Rockets are led by Trevon Keely averaging 15.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game.
“They still have a couple of good players up there, so they will be tough,” Santisteban said of Paton-Churdan. “We have to be ready to go. We can’t lay an egg. We’ve got to play our brand of basketball, and just make sure we execute, and do the little things correctly.”