Published Saturday, March 8, 1997
PIAA A BOYS BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFFS
Vincentian 74
West Middlesex 72 OT
Big Reds drop OT heart-breaker
By Brad Isles
Herald Sports Writer
GROVE CITY _ For somebody whose availability was in question mid-week, Andy Hutelmyer sure had a big impact on the outcome of the West Middlesex- Vincentian PIAA Class A state playoff game Friday night.
Despite coming down with a virus Wednesday, Hutelmyer was in the lineup Friday for the Royals. And it was Hutelmyer who grabbed a fortunate offensive rebound and put it back for the game winning points as the buzzer sounded to give the Royals a 74-72 win in overtime at Grove City College Arena.
A dejected Todd Kiester, kneeling, and coach Larry Ellison
watch from the sidelines in the waning seconds of the Big Reds
state playoff loss. Kiester had fouled out. (Gene Paulson/Herald)
``Andy was a question coming into this game,'' said Vincentian coach Dave Zimmerman of Hutelmyer who finished with six points and seven rebounds. ``We didn't really expect him to have a big game, but he gave us enough at the end and that was important.''
Vincentian (21-5) rallied from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit by making its free throws and capitalizing on West Middlesex (17- 11) turnovers to tie it at 61-61 by the end of regulation.
In overtime, Steve Bowers put the Big Reds up 69-66 with two free throws and a hoop inside with 1:34 left. Jared Reck countered with a pair of free throws to cut it to one.
Reck added two more free throws after a Beau Hollowell hoop to keep the Royals within one. And on the ensuing inbounds play, the Big Reds threw the ball away.
``We had some turnovers at crucial times which never should have happened,'' West Middlesex coach Larry Ellison said. ``We did some dumb things at the end. Some guys got out of position on the inbounds play and clogged things up rather than keeping it clear and we ended up throwing the ball away.''
Reck, who scored 25 points and was 11-for-11 from the foul line, hit two more free throws to put Vincentian up, 72-71 with 12 seconds left. Derek Gearhart went to the line three seconds later with the chance to put the Big Reds ahead, but made just one of his two attempts.
Nine seconds proved to be just too much time for Vincentian and Hutelmyer, who was in the right place at the right time.
``Obviously we didn't have a play,'' Zimmerman said. ``We just wanted to get the ball and go and that's what we want to do in that situation.''
West Middlesex's Tim Van Buren eys a pass headed his way in Friday's PIAA Class A interdistrict contest agains Vincentian. (Gene Paulson/Herald)
``We had the game in our hand and we let it get away,'' Ellison said. ``We just didn't produce when we had to. We let them back in it and they took advantage of it.''
Vincentian earned the right to play Bishop-Guilfoyle, 48-47 winners over Coudersport, Tuesday night at a location and time yet to be determined.
West Middlesex was making its first appearance in the state playoffs in seven years. In 1989-90, the Big Reds fell to Washington, 61-48 in the Western Semifinals as a Class AA team. That year the Big Reds were led by Rick Ladjevich, who finished the season with 827 points.
This year's team is simliar in one respect. Where the '89-90 squad had Ladjevich, this one has Steve Bowers, who, going into Friday's game had 563 points on the season and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau for his career in the District 10 Championship Game.
But it was Todd Kiester who came off the bench to lead West Middlesex against the Royals.
He scored 27 points, grabbed six rebounds and had three blocks in just 20 minutes of play before fouling out with 2:45 left in overtime.
And it was Kiester, not Bowers, who broke a three-minute scoreless streak that saw the Big Reds' lead shrink from 54-45 to 54-51 with 4 1/2 minutes to play.
Dave Freeman scored three straight buckets to bring the Royals back into the game, but Kiester countered with two of his own to give the Reds a 58-53 lead heading into the stretch run.
Despite Kiester's efforts, Freeman picked up a steal and went the length of the floor for an open dunk to cut West Middlesex's lead to 59-55 with two minutes remaining.
Two foul shots by Sean Dillon and a hoop inside by Hutelmyer a minute later notched the game at 59-59.
Kiester and Bowers followed by making the first shots of their two-shot fouls to put West Middlesex up by two with 27 seconds left.
With the clock winding down, Reck pulled up at the foul line and hit a jumper to tie the game at 61-61 and send the game into overtime.
Freeman led all scorers with 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and was the Royals' main option inside early on.
Also one of the up men on the Royals' full-court press, Freeman picked up a steal and a dunk to giving Vincentian a 9-8 advantatge with two minutes left in the first.
But Kiester and the Big Reds countered, as they had numerous odd-man breaks after getting through the first wave of the Royals' press. Kiester scored four consecutive layups and helped West Middlesex to a 16-13 lead after one.
Kiester's heroics continued into the second quarter as he scored West Middlesex's first nine points of the frame. Two consecutive layups by Kiester pushed the Big Reds's lead to 25-22 at the 2:05 mark after Vincentian had cut the lead to 23-22 seconds earlier.
Bowers finally scored just his second hoop of the game with 1:30 left until the half and gave the Big Reds their biggest lead to that point, 29-22. West Middlesex went on to lead at intermission, 34- 26, paced by Kiester's 17 points and four rebounds in nine minutes of action.
``Kiester was the key, he carried us the first half,'' Ellison said. ``We worked on (the press) all week, we were ready for it. Their press did not hurt us.''
Bowers picked up his normal pace in the third, scoring seven of the Reds' first 11 points and his layup with 3 1/2 left in the quarter put West Middlesex up 45-36 and forced the Royals into a timeout.
Free throws and foul shots were the difference in the game, however, as the Royals were 15-for-19 from the stripe as opposed to West Middlesex's 10-for- 21 performance. The Big Reds also committed 16 turnovers.
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Updated March 8, 1997
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