Spartans divine in OT triumph

Poland's seemingly secure victory in regulation dissolved.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
POLAND -- By the final seconds of Tuesday's game against Poland, it seemed like Boardman would need divine intervention to win.
Maybe the Spartans got it.
Boardman missed a game-tying 3-point attempt with eight seconds left and Poland junior Neil Harris grabbed the rebound, passed the ball to Jonathan Habuda, who had the full court in front of him.
Then the improbable happened.
Habuda was called for traveling, Boardman got the ball back with less than three seconds left and inbounder Mike Krieger found Eric Baldwin -- the play's third option -- who drilled a 25-footer to tie the score at 65.
"I just threw it up and God made it go in," Baldwin, who finished with 10 points and six assists, said. "I guess God was looking out for me."
Boardman outscored Poland 11-7 in overtime to beat the Bulldogs 72-65 at Poland High School.
"That's as good as a tournament game in March," Boardman coach Dan Gorski said. "Tonight we learned that games are never over."
Major rally: Poland wiped out an 18-point halftime deficit, took a six-point lead with four minutes left in the game, had a four-point lead with less than a minute left and had a one-point lead with a 1:33 left in overtime.
It wasn't enough, and the Bulldogs are starting to feel snakebitten.
"We've lost three huge games like this," Poland coach Ken Grisdale said. "We lost to Chaney in the district final [last year], in the Mohawk tip-off tournament on a 3-pointer that put it into overtime and then this kid hits a 25-footer.
"The kids don't deserve this. I ache for them."
Senior Nick Stefanovic (6-9) led Boardman with 17 points and Matt Marks added 16 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Boardman (4-1) was nearly flawless in the first half, suffocating Poland (4-2) with its press to take a 32-14 halftime lead.
Spartans senior Mike Finamore scored just two points in the first half, but had two assists and four steals. Eight different Spartans scored in the first half.
Teamwork: "When we play as a team, we do better," Finamore, who finished with nine points and six steals, said. "I scored 29 against Chaney and we lose and all our other games I get under 10 and we win. Winning is the important thing."
Baldwin had five assists and two steals in the first half and Stefanovic added seven points.
Then the improbable happened.
Finamore began the third quarter with three turnovers and Poland hit its first three shots to cut the lead to 32-24. Eric Fender scored nine of his 18 points and Chad Fender added seven of his 10 as the Bulldogs cut Boardman's lead to 47-42 at the end of three.
"At halftime we said we need to play possession by possession," Grisdale said. "The kids came out and played their butts off. But give Boardman credit; in the second half they had to deal with what we had to deal with the first half."
Reversal: Jamie Dunn scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth as Poland opened the quarter with an 11-0 run to take its first lead since 3-2. The Bulldogs did not trail again until overtime.
Marks kept Boardman close, scoring eight straight points during one stretch. Finamore fouled out, and didn't like his view from the bench.
"It pretty much felt horrible," he said. "But everyone played hard and Eric made a great shot."
Baldwin scored six of the Spartans' final nine points.
"This place was so loud [by the end of the game] I couldn't hear myself think," Baldwin said. "This means a lot because it shows that we can beat anybody."
scalzo@vindy.com