Strong Overtime Lifts St. Paris Graham of New Carlisle Tecumseh

[SFIND]

By Bryant Billing

NEW CARLISLE- The best way stop something is to get it by it's head. Apparently to the French in the 1780's, it was also the most entertaining. That was the strategy that the Graham Falcons took up in the second half. After a lot of work the snake bit and took the the bait. Tecumseh's undisputed leader Josh McKee fouled out with 1:05 left in regulation, leaving the Arrows wounded going into overtime. In the end they missed his defensive presence and that was that. The Graham Falcons (14-0) rolled over the Arrows (13-2) in overtime and went away with the 73-61 win.

Graham was the dominate team early.

The Falcons took the lead off of an Ethan Ward three-pointer three minutes into the game. They would not relinquish that lead until the fourth quarter. Josh Schuler put the Falcons up 15-10 at the end of the first with a basket at the buzzer.

Graham started the second off with a 11-5 run. A Matt Harmon basket put the Falcons up 27-15 with 4:52 left in the second. The rest of the quarter went back and forth. Graham was out in front 36-24 at the end of the second.

The Arrows were not about to let the game get out of their hands.

Two Josh McKee free-throws with 1:45 left cut Grahams lead to 43-37. Graham never got off the ground in the third quarter, and their cautious defense let Tecumseh drive to the hoop and score. The Arrows won the quarter 16-6.

Tecumseh kept their momentum going into the fourth quarter. An Erik Smith three-pointer tied it up at 43 with 7:19 left in the fourth. The game went back-and-forth, and Graham started to pull away a little. Tecumseh never let the Falcons lead get over 5, and the Arrows were within two with ten seconds left. Justin Apple drove straight through three Falcon defenders and sank a shot with four seconds left to tie it up at 61. Graham only got a half-court shot off, so we went to overtime.

Then the Falcons ran away with it.

Tecumseh's defense took a huge hit by losing McKee in the fourth, and Graham smelled the blood in the water. Ben Rosenberger started the Falcons off with a three-pointer, and they built on from there. Three back-to-back Falcon baskets sealed the deal early on in overtime for Graham, putting them up 70-64. In the end that was enough. Tecumseh couldn't comeback, and Graham went away victorious.

Basketball does not get any better than this. A very good hard fought match with a great atmosphere. The gym was sold out and hour and a half before tip-off. It sure didn't look like it was going to be a good game in the first half. Graham drove over Tecumseh and shot right over them. You have to give the credit to Josh McKee (15 points, 4 rebounds) for keeping them in it in the first half. When Tecumseh needed a basket, McKee would deliver. He was tough on defense, and that slowed the Falcons down all game. Then in the second half Jordan Kimmey (18 points, 5 rebounds) picked up the slack on the offensive side of the ball for the Arrows. He used his slight height advantage and started pressing the issue underneath. That earned him a lot of points. Erik Smith also came through for Tecumseh when it mattered. He had two big three-pointers in the second half that kept Tecumseh in it.

A huge deciding factor in this one was the battle of the boards. Tecumseh was slaughtered in that battle. No Arrow brought down more than five rebounds apiece, and Tecumseh had only 16 total rebounds. Graham, on the other hand, had 26. A big help for them in that department was Ethan Ward. The 6'3 Ward was able to come down with 11 rebounds. He also added nine points. A lot of Graham's rebounds came on the offensive side of the ball. Graham would always get two or three shots per possession while Tecumseh would almost always get one. Josh Schuler again was a key for Graham. He finished with 27 points, including four three-pointers. He was able to create shots for himself all night.

Here's Some Stats: Individual: Player, Field Goals made/attempted, Total Points. Tecumseh- Zach Rapp 1-1 2; Justin Apple 2-5 11; Jordan Kimmey 4-10 18; Josh McKee 4-9 15; Josh Leet 2-2 4; Jordan Jones 1-2 5; Dustin Holmes 0-1 1; Erik Smith 2-3 11. Graham- Casey Crable 3-8 7; Matt Harmon 1-1 2; Ethan Ward 0-7 9; Austin Jones 1-2 5; Josh Schuler 5-11 27; Travis Crooks 5-6 12; Ben Rosenberger 2-2 11. Team: Field Goals, Three-Pointers, Free-Throws, Turnovers, Rebounds. Tecumseh- 16-33 (48%), 5-20 (25%), 20-27 (74%), 8, 16. Graham- 17-37 (46%), 7-14 (50%), 18-28 (64%), 10, 26.