CHILLICOTHE — The McClain Tigers saw their season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion on Friday at Southeastern High School when Waverly’s Cobe Marquez hit a running three point bomb at the over time buzzer, from just inside half court, to give Waverly the 67-66 win.
McClain started slow in the first quarter despite winning the opening tip as Waverly’s Trey Robertson hit a three pointer and a layup in the opening minutes to put Waverly up 5-0.
Devin Carter got McClain on the scoreboard a short time later with a layup off of a nice feed from Dalton Mischal and Kobe Penwell followed up with a fast break layup to trim the lead to one point at 5-4 in the early going.
The teams traded baskets over the next couple of minutes before Waverly was able to string together six consecutive points to take a 13-6 lead with 1:30 to play in the first.
Carter hit a layup in the closing minutes and McClain kept Waverly in check for the remainder of the quarter and trailed 13-8 as the teams prepared for the second quarter of play.
Waverly was able to extend it’s lead to 16-10 early in the second quarter before McClain’s Carter was fouled while hitting a layup and converted at the charity strip and Mischal hot a driving layup of his own to trim the lead to 16-15 with under four minutes to go in the first half of play.
Following two free throws by Waverly Carter hit back to back shots in the paint to give McClain it’s first lead of the night at 19-18 with 2:12 to go in the second quarter.
Marquez’s second three pointer of the night for Waverly put hit team back up at 21-19 before Mischal tied it at 21 with a layup at the 1:37 mark of the quarter.
Tanner Smallwood converted a lyup of his own at the other end for Waverly but Mischal canned a three pointer with 59 seconds to play in the half that capped the scoring for both teams and allowed McClain to take a narrow 24-23 lead into the locker room.
Carter and Garrison Banks carried the Tigers’ offense in the third quarter when they combined to score all 15 of their team’s points in the quarter.
Waverly hit three triples in the third quarter including the final one with two seconds to play by Easton Wolf that broke a 39-39 tie and send Waverly into the fourth quarter with a 42-39 lead.
McCalin rattled off four straight points to start the fourth with Mischal hitting two of five free throws and Carter converting on a spinning layup to give McClain a 43-42 lead with 5:41 to go in the fourth quarter.
Waverly and McClain traded baskets over the next several minutes and the lead changed hands five times and the game was tied three times at 45, 47 and 50 the last of which occured with 3:32 to play.
A three pointer by Marquez gave Waverly a three point cushion at 53-50 with 2:47 to play but Mischal refused to let McClain go down without a fight as he converted two out of four free throws and gave McClain a 54-53 lead when he snagged an offensive board and out it back up and in with under two minutes to play.
Garrison Banks pushed the McClain lead to 55-53 when he split a pair of free throws with 1:08 to play but Banks was unable to ice the game with 48 seconds to go as he whiffed on a pair at the line that set up Smallwood’s layup for Waverly with 29 seconds to play that tied the game at 55.
The Tigers were unable to convert over the final 29 seconds and the final buzzer sounded with the scoreboard reading 55-55.
Banks opened the over time period with a three pointer before Cody Remington hit a three pointer for Waverly with 3:06 to play in the frame and tied the game at 58.
On the next possession for McClain freshman Bryson Badgely was fouled on a three point attempt but was only able to convert one of his three opportunities at the stripe.
Kobe Penwell hit a layup while bing fouled with 2:17 to go in overtime but was unable to convert the free throw as McClain settled for a 61-58 lead.
Ethan Cockerill and Badgely split free throws at the 1:44 and 47 second mark to push the McClain lead to 63-58 with under a minute to go in the game.
Robertson hit two threes in less than 20 seconds of game time to keep Waverly in the game the second of which came after Penwell converted two free throws for McClain to push the home team on the scoreboard up by four points at 65-61.
Following Robertson’s second three pointer, and a timeout by Waverly, Banks was fouled but converted one of two with six seconds to play.
Banks’ second attempt barely grazed the front of the rim and Marquez grabbed the ball and rushed down court where he jumped and double pumped before releasing the game winning shot from just inside the half court line that gave Waverly the hard fought 67-66 win and sent the Tigers home empty handed.
Score by quarters
MHS 8-16-15-16 OT – 11
WHS 13-10-19-13 OT – 12
McClain: Penwell 2-2/5-6; Badgley 4/7-4; Cockerill 2/4-2; Banks 3(2)-2/6-14; Carter 10-3/3-23; Mischal 4(1)-6/11-17
Totals: 19(3)-19/36-66
Waverly: Smallwood 3-6; Marquez 1(5)-0/1-17; Robertson 2(5)-0/1-19; Remington 2(1)-2/4-9; Dunn 3-0/1-6; Shanks 1-2; Wolf 1(1)-3/4-8
Totals: 13(12)-5/11-67
Ryan Applegate is the Sports Editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
