WACO wins 2OT thriller

WAYLAND -- Perhaps the game of the year in the SEISC South Division took place at WACO High School on Thursday night, and thanks to a couple of clutch shots from WACO juniors, the Warriors walked out with a 68-66 double-overtime win.

Gabe Reichenbach tied the game with a three-pointer at the end of the first overtime and Nik Coble hit the game-winner with less than five seconds left in the second overtime to give the Warriors a huge conference win before winter break.

'This is big for us, especially going into Christmas with momentum,” said head coach Paul Kissell. 'It's one thing when you say that ‘we played with them' and it's a loss, but now we can say ‘we played with them and we came out with that win.'”

It was Notre Dame that took control early on. The Nikes scored 21 points in the first quarter, their highest total in any quarter. Coble had five points in the first quarter for WACO, but the Nikes led 21-13 after one quarter.

Notre Dame opened up a double-digit lead in the second quarter, but WACO cut the lead down to two points, at 31-29 in the final minute. Notre Dame's Jeron Conner ended the run with a three-point play to give the Nikes a 34-29 lead at the break. Coble and Drew Kissell each had eight points at halftime.

WACO caught fire in the third quarter. The Warriors started the period on a 16-3 run, rattling the Nikes and taking their first lead of the game. By the end of the third quarter, the Warriors held a 46-40 advantage.

Notre Dame stormed back in the fourth quarter. The Nikes opened the quarter on an 11-4 runs and held a 51-49 lead before Coble tied the game at 51-51 with two minutes left. What happened next was a frenetic finish that lasted two extra periods before a winner was decided.

Notre Dame's Mitchell Brent hit a reverse layup to give the Nikes a 53-51 lead, but Coble hit two free throws with one minute left to tie the game back at 53-53. Then, with 17.1 seconds left, Coble was fouled again and hit two free throws that put Notre Dame's back against the wall.

The first of Gavin Kies was fouled on a shot with 5.9 seconds left in regulation. The infraction was called on WACO point guard Colton Horak, which fouled him out to put the Warriors at a disadvantage. Kies hit both free throws to tie the game at 55-55, and Kissell's potential game-winner went just short at the buzzer.

With the two teams tied at 57-57 and less than one minute on the clock, Kies made another clutch play for the Nikes. He drove in and hit the go-ahead layup with 42 seconds left. Reichenbach was fouled on the next WACO posession, but only hit one free throw and the Warriors were forced to foul again, trailing 59-58.

Kies made both free throws to give the Nikes a 61-58 lead. The Warriors worked the clock down, trying to get an open shot, but didn't get a good look until the ball found Reichenbach with the clock racing towards zero. Reichenback launched a three that hit nothing but net, tying the game up at 61-61. Notre Dame's Ryle Koenig missed a potential game-winner on the other end and the game was sent into double overtime.

'The clock was running down and I knew we needed a few points,” Reichenbach said after the game. 'So, I just shot in and prayed.”

Kissell gave the Warriors a lead early in the fourth quarter, hitting a free throw with 3:17 remaining. Less than a minute later, Coble hit a layup off an offensive rebound to make it 64-61.

Kies hit a couple of free throws of his own to cut the WACO lead to 64-63 with 1:51 remaining, but Kissell hit two clutch free throws to stretch the lead back to three, at 66-63. Kies got back to the line for two more free throws and WACO's lead was down to 66-65 with the ball.

The Warriors attempted to run the clock down as late as they could in the final minute, but Conner came up with a huge play for Notre Dame. The Nike junior jumped a pass with 30 seconds left and had a fastbreak layup attempt to potentially take the lead. He missed the shot but was fouled, and hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 66-66.

On the other end, it was Coble's time to shine. He walked the ball up the court and took a screen with the clock bleeding down. Coble took a couple of dribbles in and put up a turnaround jump shot from the corner, draining the shot over a defender to give WACO the 68-66 lead. Notre Dame called timeout with 1.2 seconds remaining, but Conner's full-court heave went off the backboard and out.

'I was just trying to give my team a chance,” said Coble about his final shot. 'If I wasn't shooting it, I know somebody good was going to be shooting it. I just tried to find the open opportunity for my team, and it just showed up to be my number. I took it, and I guess I capitalized on it.”

Coble finished the game with a game-high 28 points. Kissell had 15 and Reichenbach scored 14 to give the Warriors three double-digit scorers. Horak finished the night with six points. McGohan had three, and Matthew Leichty scored two. Kies led the Nikes with 26.

'I think physically we were dead-tired but mentally we were strong enough to keep going,” Coble said. 'We had it in us. The whole team had it in us. We all believed in each other.”

The Warriors moved to 7-3 on the year and 4-3 in the South Division. They'll take a lot of momentum into their next game, which is at home against Van Buren on Tuesday, Jan. 4.