By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
ASHVILLE — Brody Fields stood on the left wing for a few extra seconds on Thursday with his shooting hand still in the air after releasing the basketball.
“I knew that I needed to get a shot up and I had a little extra space to work with,” the Teays Valley freshman said. “I was able to set my feet, put up the shot and it felt pretty good after I released the basketball.”
Fields drained a three-pointer from approximately 27 feet away from the basket that forced overtime and gave the host Vikings enough time to edge Bloom-Carroll 66-63 and take sole possession of first in the Mid-State League Buckeye Division.
“I kept my hand in the air, because I had a pretty good idea that I was going to make the basket,” Fields said. “It felt like the perfect shot to meet the situation that we faced.”
The Bulldogs (6-2, 5-1) had their 25-game league winning streak snapped in the defeat, which was the first setback they suffered since falling 52-42 at Logan Elm on Jan. 22, 2021.
Fields led all scorers with 21 points for the Vikings, Kole Nungester contributed 16 points and seven rebounds, Ryan Allton had 14 points, and Sam Miller contributed nine points to go with 12 rebounds.
“Bloom-Carroll has a very good basketball team and this was a win that was truly a team victory,” Teays Valley coach Brian Barnett said. “Our two freshmen starters, Kole Nungester and Brody Fields, were spectacular this evening, and then you go up our roster and two of our seniors, Brayden Primmer and Ivan Smith, also did some nice things.
“Brayden is the type of player that does a lot of little things that don’t show up in the box score. When he fouled out, Ivan Smith came off the bench in overtime and had a huge block.”
The Vikings (7-3, 6-0) rallied from an eight-point deficit in the third quarter and used a hot start in the fourth that included back-to-back threes from Fields and Allton and a basket courtesy of Sam Miller to take a 48-43 lead with 5:11 remaining in regulation.
“We were more consistent at getting the basketball past the zone pressure that Bloom-Carroll runs and into spots where we could score from,” Barnett observed.
Bloom-Carroll responded and rattled off nine consecutive points to take a 52-48 lead.
A layup from Miller and a triple courtesy of Fields put the Vikings back in front 53-52.
“I felt like our team came of age and matured as a basketball team tonight, because they faced a lot of adversity throughout the game. Our guys stayed with it, and they played together,” Barnett praised. “Ryan Allton, our other senior who also played well tonight, is a young man who hates to lose, and I know that Kole Nungester and Brody Fields feel the same way since they’ve only lost three games in the last three seasons.
“Our team is taking on their mentality and they don’t care who is making the big shot. All they are concerned about is the name on the front of the jersey winning the game.”
The Bulldogs wrestled the lead right back, as Jackson Wyant hit a runner and Michael Malone connected on a pair of free throws to make it 56-53 with 45.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
Fields forced free basketball two possessions later by draining his aforementioned long three from the left wing with just 2.3 seconds remaining.
“What a big shot by a young man who is blossoming as a player before our eyes,” Barnett said. “When Brody gets a look like that, even if it is a number of feet behind the three-point line, we like our chances.”
Nungester took over for Fields to begin overtime, scoring a layup off a turnover and then taking a feed from Fields and burying a triple of his own from the left wing to put the Vikings ahead 61-57.
“When Brody put up that shot almost at the end of regulation, I felt like it had a good chance of going in and it gave our team a huge momentum lift going into overtime,” said Nungester, who had six points and three rebounds in the extra period. “I knew that it was my time to step up in overtime and help out our team. I made a couple of shots to start things off and then I also worked inside to help out our bigs with rebounding.
“Our bigs did a great job all night long of competing and making plays for us.”
The Vikings scored their final five points at the free throw line, with Fields and Miller hitting two apiece and Nungester nailing a charity toss.
Bloom-Carroll had two looks from three-point range in the closing seconds, trailing 66-63, but both shots missed the mark.
The Teays Valley student section rushed the court after the final buzzer to celebrate at midcourt with their league-leading boys basketball team.
“Our student section was loud and into the game and it has been a while since they have rushed the floor at the end of a game,” Barnett said. “That was very rewarding to see our students celebrating with our players at the end after how hard they worked.”
Wyant had 20 points, Malone scored 13, Owen Conrad had 12 and Michael Whitcraft chipped in 11 to pace the Bulldogs.
The Vikings continue league play on Saturday when they host Liberty Union.
“We didn’t shoot the basketball like we wanted to earlier this week in the (64-54) loss to New Albany, so to come back tonight and get a huge win inside the league is going to give our team a huge lift moving forward,” Fields said. “We have a short turnaround (until Saturday against Liberty Union), so we are going to have to get right back to work.”
Teays Valley 66,
Bloom-Carroll 63 OT
BLOOM-CARROLL — Jett Jones 0-1-1, Michael Malone 4-3-13, Jackson Wyant 9-0-20, Owen Conrad 5-2-12, Michael Whitcraft 4-1-11, Jayse Rockwood 2-0-4, Chase Chapman 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Malone (2), Wyant (2), Whitcraft (2). Total — 25 7-13 63.
TEAYS VALLEY — Kole Nungester 6-1-16, Brody Fields 6-6-21, Ryan Allton 4-4-14, Ivan Smith 1-0-2, Brayden Primmer 2-0-4, Sam Miller 4-1-9. Three-point goals — Fields (3), Nungester (3), Allton (2). Total — 23 12-23 66.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 OT F
Bloom-Carroll 11 17 13 15 7 63
Teays Valley 9 13 18 16 10 66
