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Poland needs 2OT to defeat Howland
HOWLAND — It was billed as “The Rematch.”
Fans of the Poland and Howland boys basketball teams waited for two weeks after the Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 62-58 on February 6 at Poland when the game ended in controversial fashion.
The return matchup between the two teams lived up to its hype and more when it took two overtimes to determine the outcome before Poland turned back the Tigers, 97-96.
Howland’s Kyle Spence, who scored a game-high 35 points, missed a runner in the lane with four seconds left in the second overtime and Poland’s Ben Donlow grabbed the rebound and cleared the ball out of the back court to secure the win.
The Tigers’ Dom DeFelice was fouled with 0.7 seconds remaining but missed both free throws. Jared Kirin’s full-court shot never had a chance and Poland grabbed the win.
The victory sets up a showdown next week between Poland and Canfield for the All-American Conference Red Tier championship. Both teams are 6-1 in league play.
“It was a barn-burner,” said Poland coach Ken Grisdale. “You had a senior-laden [Howland] team that was doing anything it could on senior night to get a win.
“We found a way to hold on.”
Poland (15-4) built a 13-point lead (56-43) with 2:42 left in the third quarter and held a 64-52 lead at the start of the fourth quarter before the Tigers started to get back in the game.
Spence tallied nine points in the final quarter and Jared Kirin scored 10 of his 24 points in the period as Howland fought their way back to force the extra sessions.
Howland finally tied the score at 76 with 2:32 left in the game on a basket by Spence before Poland pushed the lead back out to 80-76 on a basket by Dave Baker and two free throws by Luke Wollet.
Howland (13-7, 5-3) made it 80-78 on a basket by Spence with :38 left and the Tigers got a last chance to tie when Wollet missed two free throws with 31 seconds remaining.
The Tigers tied the game, 80-80, on a rebound shot by Tyler Scott with 3.0 seconds left.
Scott scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Tigers.
“It was a great game to watch,” said Howland coach Don Andres. “Our kids didn’t quit.
“We had a shot to win it in the first overtime but the ball rolled out. We can’t get over the hump against them.”
Poland was led by Niko Fatimus who had 29 points. Dave Baker chipped in with 21 points and 10 rebounds while Wollet had 19 points.
Donlow also scored 15 points and had nine rebounds for the Bulldogs.
The Tigers forced eight turnovers in that fourth quarter to get back in the game.