by Warren Kozireski
Jake O’Connell knocked down a ten foot runner with ten seconds remaining in overtime to lift Spencerport to a 66-65 overtime victory over Greece Arcadia in boys basketball.
It seems amazing the Rangers got to that point considering they didn’t manage more than a free throw for the first 7:20 of the contest and trailed by as many as nine points.
“This is number one for sure,” O’Connell said after the contest. “My senior year, our second consecutive overtime win and at home.
“We struggled in January and we were cold in the first quarter. Plus missing our top two point guards, so I had to start (the game) handling the point.”
Brandon Ellis came off the bench to handle point guard duties for large stretches of the rest of the contest and that freed up O’Connell to hit a pair of treys in the final minute of the first quarter and he added nine more points before halftime.
In the third quarter the two teams exchanged the lead twice and were tied on four other occasions with the Titans leading by five heading to the fourth.
Devon Pascoe dunked and made two lay-ups while Mike DeBack hit two free throws in a 8-0 Rangers run to open the fourth. Kevin Reese hit two free throws with 23 seconds remaining in regulation to give Spencerport a three-point lead and, after a Titans field goal, DeBack hit both ends of a one-and-one with ten seconds left.
But a Titans three-pointer in the final second tied the game after regulation.
Arcadia began the extra session by jumping out to a five point lead, but O’Connell hit a trey and DeBack a jumper from the right corner to tie the game at 61-61 with 1:20 left.
After the Titans took a two-point lead, Reese hit a huge three-pointer to give the Rangers a one-point lead.
Another Titans bucket put them back in front leading to O’Connell’s game-winner.
“His stats won’t show it, but Ellis coming off the bench to handle the point was huge and Reese hit a key shot at the end,” said fifth-year Spencerport head coach Chris Crowell.
“We were 0-6 in January, but we talked about coming out of our abyss and that February is a new time for us. We’ve played a tough non-conference schedule and games like this now will be a big deal for us in sectionals.”
O’Connell finished with a game-high 27 points with ten rebounds, eight steals and six assists. Pascoe also had a double-double with 16 points and 18 rebounds plus four blocks. DeBack had 12 points and Reese added nine.
