by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
The game was in overtime before Circleville got its first lead of the night as the Tigers won a thriller over Westfall 81-79.
Circleville senior Briley Cramer had a career night with 10 points in the overtime to give him 40 for the game.
“We continue to lean on Briley. We want to keep it as simple as possible – you put the ball in your best player’s hands and let him go to work,” Circleville coach Cody Carpenter said. “He is one of the best players I’ve seen, since I’ve been in coaching for 16 years, in transition. When he comes downhill, he is so hard to defend. We wanted to put the ball in his hands and wanted everyone else to be in position for either a kickout or a rebound. And that’s exactly what we did.”
“We knew when we got up 10 that they weren’t going to stop playing,” Westfall coach Kyle Joseph said. “That’s what high school basketball games are supposed to look like, supposed to feel like and we’re going to be a lot better the rest of the year for having played in a game like this.”
On the other side of the scorebook, Cramer’s former teammate Joe Wray had a career effort scoring 37 against his old team to lead the Mustangs.
“He played a heck of a game,” Joseph said. “You look at the way Brody (Clark) has played this year, what he means to our team and the amount of points (he scores), that draws a lot of attention and makes it easier for everyone out there.”
While Circleville (5-3) held Clark scoreless in the first, Wray had 10 as the Mustangs (6-2) went up 16-15. Five Mustangs scored in a 20-point second quarter on the way to a 36-27 halftime lead.
Westfall’s lead was up to 13 points in the third, but foul trouble slowed the Mustangs down a bit and Circleville was able to cut into the lead.
“We had to be pretty small. They’re have been times we had to deal with that this year and there will be more times this year when we have to so it’s another learning experience,” Joseph said.
Cramer capped a 13-point quarter after Slater Search pulled down a rebound and fed him with a full court pass so he could score right before the buzzer to trim Westfall’s lead to 50-45.
Circleville pulled to 50-49 early in the fourth, but a pair of buckets from Clark made it a five-point game again.
Circleville again pulled within a point and the Mustangs took the advantage back to five with 1:45 left in regulation.
Ed Kirk scored for the Tigers and, 12 seconds later, the Tigers got a turnover on an inbounds play which Jack Kline then turned into a three-pointer to tie the game for the first time since it was 2-2.
Wray answered with a three-pointer, then Cramer hit one of two free throws and Wray did the same with 54 seconds left.
Circleville sophomore Riley Jenkins then connected from behind the arc to tie the game again at 67-67 with 40 seconds on the clock and that was where the score stood heading into overtime.
“A big credit to our sophomore Riley Jenkins, he didn’t have as many minutes in that second half as what he’d like but when he came in, he made the most of it,” Carpenter said. “Briley kicked out and he hit that three. If he doesn’t hit that three, we don’t go to overtime – just ice water in his veins.”
Cramer opened the scoring in overtime for Circleville’s first lead of the night, but Clark answered to tie the game. Search grabbed a rebound off his own miss and gave Circleville another lead, and Clark again tied the game. Wray then hit one of two free throws to put Westfall on top 72-71.
The next six points came from Cramer as he hit two free throws, then was fouled again after Circleville got a steal and he sank both of those with 1:21 on the clock. Forty seconds later, he grabbed the rebound off of his own missed shot and put it back in for a 77-72 lead.
But Westfall wasn’t done as Wray sank another three-pointer with 28 seconds showing.
Search was fouled and hit one of two which was followed by Wray going to the line and hitting one of two with 15 seconds left.
Search was again fouled with 9.7 on the clock and he hit the second of the two.
Drew Thornsley got his hands on the Westfall inbounds pass and the ball went to Cramer who was fouled and hit both shots with 5.1 on the clock.
“Drew did a nice job of giving us a big spark off the bench like he did two nights ago, this time more on the defensive side,” Carpenter said.
Wray capped the game’s coring hitting his fifth three-pointer of the night as time expired.
“Defensively, we struggled all night but then when it mattered the most, in gut-check moments, we got stops, we made plays, we got deflections, we got on loose balls, our rotations were good and we found ways to get it done,” Carpenter said.
Along with Cramer’s 40, Ed Kirk put in 19 for the Tigers.
Clark ended the night with 15 for the Mustangs.
Circleville had a 30-16 rebounding advantage. Cramer and Search each had six while Kirk had five and Kline had four. Bryan Craig and Brydan Gall led Westfall with three each.
Westfall has little time to rest as they are back at it with an 11 a.m. tip paying Lakewood at Harvest Prep. Circleville will be back in action at Miami Trace Wednesday.
Circleville 81, Westfall 79 (Overtime)
Westfall — Brody Clark 7-0-15, Joe Wray 12-8-37, Bryan Craig 3-0-7, Brenden Tuttle 1-1-3, Brydan Gall 4-0-8, Henry Barnes 1-3-5, Jerry Layton 2-0-4. Three-point goals — Clark, Wray (5), Craig. Total — 30-50 12-18 79.
Circleville — Preston Hulse 1-1-3, Briley Cramer 13-13-40, Jack Kline 1-2-5, Slater Search 3-2-8, Riley Jenkins 2-0-6, Ed Kirk 7-5-19. Three-point goals — Cramer, Kline, Jenkins (2). Total — 27-45 23-41 81.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 OT F
Westfall 16 20 14 17 12 79
Circleville 15 12 18 22 14 81
