By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – As the final buzzer sounded, the gymnasium at Port Allegany erupted. Conducted by their overjoyed Gators on the court, the fans that filled the bleachers celebrated and rejoiced in victory.
And while Port’s 43-28 win over Otto-Eldred stood as just a regular season contest, one in the middle of the season, the Gators and Terrors knew that it marked a moment: for the first time in over four years, O-E had been bested by another North Tier League team.
“We’ve been looking forward to this. We had high hopes of doing it at their place but it didn’t really work out for us there,” said Port Allegany head coach Kyle Babcock. “You hate to make excuses but not being healthy didn’t help us. When we’re healthy and strong, I think we can beat anybody.”
Wednesday’s meeting wasn’t the first time these two teams had seen each other this season. Six weeks prior, the Gators christened their season with a trip to the Terror Dome, where they ultimately watched a slim lead in the fourth quarter turn into an 0-1 start to the year. But that was well over a month ago and in the time since, Port has not only gotten fully healthy, but also found four wins in five games over the last week and a half.
“It was our first game of the year and we had some dumb mistakes down the stretch. We were winning by like two with two minutes to go and we made some poor decisions, turned the ball over a couple times and kind of gave that game away,” said Babcock, whose team entered Wednesday at 5-5. “(Today,) we wanted to make sure it didn’t come down to one shot.”
With two of the best teams in the league pitted against one another, the feeling out process took a healthy amount of time. Through the early goings, neither side could find any sense of production. Defensive contests or not, both teams struggled to take the lid off the hoop, even despite earning point-blank looks from offensive rebounds or well-timed cuts.
Finally, after four and a half minutes of scoreless possessions, the Gators broke the seal. After Liam Hawver broke loose with a steal, he moved the ball up the floor to find Nick Wilfong, who pulled the trigger on a 3-pointer that connected with nothing but net. Having ended the drought, Port’s offense quickly padded their new-found lead, scoring twice down low from Isac Amell and Jarrod Funk.
The Terrors, on the other hand, continued to fall short. Coupled with a few turnovers late in the quarter, O-E’s offense sputtered for another two and a half minutes. Finding their first bucket from a Wyatt Blendinger drive at the one minute mark, O-E entered the second quarter down 9-2.
“We didn’t execute and that’s a credit to Port. At the start of the game, they did a good job blowing up some of our sets and getting after it and we handled the ball well, we didn’t turn the ball over that much, but it definitely took us out of our rhythm,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Rob Wight. “We struggled with the little stuff.”
Taking back to the hardwood, the Terrors quickly found a flash of offense, starting with a triple from Michael Sheeler on their very first touch. Although Port quickly responded, with Amell scoring twice on drives through the lane and Funk scoring on a 3-pointer, O-E held strong initially, retaliating with another pair of triples from Jack Sherry and Mason Rees.
But then the Gators found a spark. Getting the ball on the low block, Funk made his move towards the hoop, ultimately coming away with a made basket and a foul. Converting the three-point play, Port rode the sudden momentum as they pulled away by ten.
Had things continued to fall their way, as it seemed like it might, Port could have run away with the game, but the Terrors refused to go down early.
After several scoreless minutes, O-E broke free from their rut with two baskets from Sherry, one in transition and another a mid-range jumper. Sheeler then brought the Terrors to within four with two made shots at the free throw line before O-E’s third steal of the quarter produced an open look for Rees, who connected on a shot from long range as the halftime buzzer sounded. Entering the break, O-E had slimmed the margin on the scoreboard to just one.
“In the second quarter we got away from doing what was working. We kind of got away from our game, made some dumb mistakes, were rushing instead of taking our time on offense, fell asleep sometimes on defense and that’s what we stressed at halftime,” said Babcock. “We had to get back to our game, buy in and things will work out.”
In the third, the grit-and-grind battle resumed. As their defenses clashed, both team’s offenses struggled to convert shots into points, with each hitting just a single 3-pointer through the first three and a half minutes of play. Once again, Port broke the seal first.
Looking to exploit their size advantage down low, the Gators began dumping the ball to their men in the middle, who, in turn, either maneuvered to get their own shot off or dished it out to shooters. Their plan of attack worked, as Amell helped rebuild the lead back to nine with a made spin in the post and subsequent pass out to Hawver’s made 3-pointer. Holding a comfortable lead, Port then began to stall. With the Terrors’ offense again sputtering when given possession, they were helpless as they entered the fourth down by five.
The final quarter didn’t start well for O-E. After surrendering another turnover on their first possession, they watched the Gators take full control of the game. Dominating the offensive glass for numerous second-chance scores, connecting on several shots from outside and holding the Terrors without a basket for over four minutes of play, Port’s lead swelled back up to 10 halfway through the quarter.
Then, again came the stalling. Patiently passing the ball around the perimeter until forced to do otherwise, the Gators successfully burned large chunks of time off the clock, quickly closing any window for a comeback.
“It’s really tricky (battling stall-ball.) We learned that our guys hadn’t been in a game like that, where they’re down and it’s kind of close, and I think we learned tonight that we have to be a little more aggressive,” said Wight. “Port did a great job. You have to give credit to them on executing and taking care of the ball. When we did get after them, they still didn’t turn the ball over, they still executed, they knocked down shots. They did a good job.”
Despite finally seeing the ball go through the hoop, O-E knew the game was all but decided. Scoring just five points in the fourth, they accepted the inevitable. Not only had they lost the game, their untouched record in the NTL had been broken.
“All good things come to an end. We’ve talked about it before, it’s not one of those things you avoid,” said Wight. “We use it kind of as a building block. What won us 71 games in a row? Taking care of the ball, rebounding, the little stuff within the margins that we didn’t do tonight.”
Amell led all scorers on the night with 17 points alongside six rebounds while Hawver, who went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, ended with 13 points, three assists and two steals. For the Terrors, Sheeler finished with a team-high 11 points while Sherry ended with seven and Rees with six.
“Not to look ahead, but I told these guys that we had to win this game tonight if we wanted to win the NTL. We started 1-4 but I still believe we can win the NTL,” said Babcock. “That’s been our goal. We have to knock teams off one at a time. We can’t give up any losses that we should win. We have to play our game, keep playing hard, keep playing strong and things will work themselves out.”
AT PORT ALLEGANY
Otto-Eldred (28)
Sheeler 3 2-2 11, Sherry 3 0-0 7, Rees 2 0-0 6, Blendinger 1 0-2 2, Splain 1 0-0 2, Schenfield 0 0-2 0. Totals: 10 2-6 28
Port Allegany (43)
Amell 8 1-2 17, Hawver 5 0-0 13, Funk 2 2-5 6, Wilfong 2 0-0 5, Babcock 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 3-7 43
Otto-Eldred 2 20 23 28
Port Allegany 9 21 29 43
Three-point goals: O-E (6) Sheeler 3, Rees 2, Sherry, PA (4) Hawver 3, Wilfong; Total fouls: O-E 14, PA 7; Fouled out: None.
