02-09-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
WALTONVILLE - In the history of the long-standing rivalry between Waltonville and Sesser-Valier there have been some memorable games on the basketball court.

Tuesday night's edition of the rivalry had a lot of forgettable moments.

However in a contest where mistakes trumped success, Coach Tyler Mitchell's Spartans found a way to come out on top.

Behind senior leader Dylan Miller with 33-points and a defensive effort that forced 26-turnovers by the Red Devils, Waltonville outlasted their guests 79-73 in double-overtime in a front of a full-house at Waltonville.

The senior guard had his issues on the night but the ended up making enough free throws in the second overtime to clinch the win to get his club back to the .500 mark at 12-12 on the season.

Miller was just 10-of-17 from the foul line, but he canned three consecutive freebies to close out the win.

In fact the 6-foot guard scored nine of his points in the second extra session, including a fast break lay in that ended the game at the buzzer for some “icing on the cake.”

With his teammates in foul trouble and Sesser-Valier putting pressure on his club, Miller made the most of his opportunities late in the mistake filled contest.

“Our young guys really stepped up for us tonight. Caleb and Jayon, I am very proud of those guys. We had a senior leader (Majewski) and our other big man (Tanner Spihlman) foul out of the game and the young kids stepped up when they had the opportunity,” said Coach Mitchell. “At the end we said we are going to give it to our best player (Miller) and see if they can guard him. They couldn't stop him so we stuck with it. But it starts with the defense and we turned them over and got some easy buckets.”

For Coach Shane Garner's club, in spite of the mistakes in the game the Red Devils had chances to get a win.

But they didn't put together a strong enough run late in the game and four-straight turnovers to begin the second overtime doomed the visitors, who saw their won-loss mark slip to 10-16 on the season.

Zane Wilson, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, netted 24-points for the Red Devils.

Wilson scored seven points in the second overtime and his 3-pointer with :16.3 cut the Waltonville lead to just 75-73.

But Miller ended the drama soon after that from the foul line, making a pair with :14.7 left.

Others who produced for the Spartans included a trio of double-digit scorers.

Waltonville got 15-points each from sophomore Caleb Jourdan and senior Ryan Majewski.

Both has strong second half's but Majewski was saddled with foul trouble, eventually fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Coach Mitchell got 10-points from junior Dalton Banach and a big boost from a reserve freshman Jayon Malone.

With the foul difficulty reducing his options, Coach Mitchell a good effort from Malone.

Normally a junior varsity player, Malone hit 1-of-2 free throws in the fourth quarter and nailed his only field goal of the game, a 3-point bomb from the left corner, to start the first overtime.

The Red Devils seemed on the verge of winning this contest for most of the second half as the led the entire third quarter.

Sesser-Valier took its largest lead, the biggest of either team, in the third quarter.

Gurard Lukas Gunter, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, netted seven of his nine-points in the third quarter and Charles Farmer, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, tossed in six-points.

Farmer finished with 15-points for the contest and Jamie Lance, a 6-foot-2 junior, scored 12-points.

Wilson, Farmer and Gunter were all part of a run that put the Red Devils up 38-31 with 1:13 left in the quarter.

Unfortunately for Sesser-Valier, the turnovers stopped the momentum that they had.

“It came down to taking care of the ball, making lay ups and making free throws and we didn't do those things very well tonight,” said Coach Garner. “It was the consistency that we lack that we have to improve on. We have a couple of weeks before regionals to work on it. We will comeback tomorrow and work on it.”

Waltonville cut into the lead before heading to the fourth quarter with a steal and fast break from Banach cutting the Spartans deficit to just 38-34.

The Spartans got a pair of 3-pointers from Miller and one by Majewski early in the fourth.

When Majewski hit his trifecta from the right wing with 4:22 left, Waltonville tied the game at 44-44.

The two teams traded baskets, turnovers and free throws for the next three minutes before the end of regulation got frantic.

Following a free throw by Malone and a steal and fast break lay in by Jourdan, the game was once again even at 54-all with 1:40 to go.

Sesser-Valier turned the ball back over to Waltonville on a charging call against Farmer with 1:24 remaining.

At this point Coach Mitchell decided his club should hold the ball for a last shot, taking two timeouts during the process.

The final few seconds turned hectic with Lance making a steal near midcourt, only to have the ball stolen back from him by Waltonville reserve Cole Griffith.

Lance fouled Griffith seconds later and the 5-foot-10 junior had a chance to put the Spartans back in front with :08.8 left.

But he missed both of the free throws in the double-bonus.

The second miss was rebounded by Jourdan but the ball ended up out of bounds and back to Sesser-Valier with :04.4.

A desperation 3-pointer from Wilson missed the mark as the horn as the two teams would need extra time to decide the outcome.

The Spartans jumped out to a quick lead behind the Malone 3-pointer and a drive to the basket by Miller that turned into a conventional three-point play and a 61-56 lead.

But Sesser-Valier again rallied behind Wilson and Lance.

The two traded baskets to cut into the lead.

Miller again converted a three-point play on a drive in the lane as he was fouled by Wilson for a 64-60 advantage.

But both Wilson and Lance did it again, each scoring inside.

Lance took a pass from Farmer for a lay in which evened the score with :24 left.

Miller had a shot to win the game but he misfired as the two clubs headed to the second extra session.

This time, Miller made sure there would be no third overtime.

Looking at the stats, Sesser-Valier won the rebounding battle by a wide margin (39-20) but they couldn't parlay that advantage into a win because of the turnover issues.

The Red Devils were 29-of-59 overall from the field, 5-of-16 from the 3-point arc.

Waltonville ended up 26-of-52 from the field but they could have polished off this victory had they been better than 20-of-39 from the foul line.

“I'm very proud of this team overall. We have had some games this season where we got to the fourth quarter then didn't have a lot of success. We flipped that a little bit tonight,” said Coach Mitchell.

Sesser-Valier (73) – J. Gunter 0 0 0-0 0, L. Gunter 3 1 0-0 9, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Winchester 1 0 1-2 4, Farmer 5 0 5-7 15, Baxter 1 1 0-0 5, Launius 2 0 0-0 4, Wilson 6 3 3-6 24, Rock 0 0 0-0 0, Styve 0 0 0-0 0, Lance 6 0 0-0 12.
2FG-24, 3FG-5, FT-9-15, PF-27.
Waltonville (79) – Miller 7 3 10-17 33, Banach 2 1 3-6 10, Jourdan 5 0 5-10 15, Spihlman 1 0 0-0 2, Majewski 4 2 1-2 15, Griffith 0 0 0-2 0, Malone 0 1 1-2 4, Lewis 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-19, 3FG-7, FT-20-39, PF-18.
Fouled Out – L. Gunter, Lance - Sesser-Valier; Spihlman, Majewski - Waltonville.
Technical Fouls – None.