Heath's prayer saves Salem

The Quakers turned back East Liverpool, 62-60, at the final buzzer.
By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SALEM -- Just when you're ready to call Salem's Ryan Benchwick the games' hero because of his 30 points, East Liverpool's Andrew Bobalik hits an apparent game-winning 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left.
Just when you're getting ready to call Bobalik the game's hero, Salem's Jarin Heath does hit the game-winner at the buzzer, giving the Quakers a 62-60 victory on Friday.
Leading 59-57, Salem worked the clock from 1:42 until there were just 25 seconds left. The Quakers then missed a free throw and, with 9.9 seconds remaining, East Liverpool called a timeout. The Potters got the ball to Bobalik, who scored his 24th point from deep in the corner.
It left too much time for Salem.
Game-winner
Tyler Pierce, who finished with 14 points, fired a baseball pass to Benchwick, who found Heath, who banked in the game-winner.
"I just threw it up and prayed," said Heath, who finished with five points. "There are people who are afraid to fail. But I thrive on that stuff. I knew it was coming to either me or Tommy [Jesko]. In the timeout, the coaches told us we weren't going to lose this game."
Bobalik wasn't necessarily trying to hit the game-winner, he was just looking for a midrange shot to tie it up.
"The 3-pointer just opened up," he said. "Still, with the way things have been going for us, it was in the back of my mind that we still hadn't won it.
"It seems we did the things we needed to do, but we didn't win."
Potters hot early
East Liverpool came out hot early, hitting four straight 3-pointers to take a 16-8 lead. The Potters finished 7 of 9 from the field in the quarter to take a 20-13 lead .
Bobalik, who hit three 3-pointers on the night, connected with 7:35 left in the second quarter to give the Potters their biggest lead of the night, 23-13.
Up 32-29 at halftime, Wines, who had 14 points, gave East Liverpool (2-6) a 37-29 lead with a basket and a free throw at 7:13.
Then Salem hit its stride.
Benchwick led an 8-0 run that featured three straight dunks and Benchwick's sixth basket of the period. Benchwick had two of the dunks while Pierce slammed down the other as Salem turned a 14-2 run into a 43-39 lead with 37 seconds left in the third.
Quakers holding on
Leading 48-43 after three, the Quakers (4-0) took a 58-56 lead with four minutes left on Benchwick's 30th point of the night.
But that was Salem's last basket until Heath's game-winner.
"Heath is one of those players that no matter what the sport, he makes plays when you need them," said Salem coach Jeff Brink. "He wants the ball at crunch time."
Brink said the Quakers run the game-winning play every day in practice.
"In fact, tonight it worked better than in practice," he said. "We could have been down after Bobalik hit that shot. But I told the kids to be patient, stick to the game plan and don't lose your composure."