43
Unbeaten LaBrae survives in OT
By Jim Flick
NEWTON FALLS
The LaBrae High School boys basketball team needed an overtime period to get it done, but out-scored Newton Falls 57-49 on Friday night to remain undefeated.
LaBrae (18-0, 8-0 All-American Conference national Division) led 26-21 at halftime, but Newton Falls out-scored the Vikings 13-7 in the third quarter to take a 34-33 lead in front of an enthusiastic home crowd that filled the gym to capacity.
Newton Falls (13-3, 6-2) led by as many as six points in the fourth quarter, but LaBrae junior Carl Brown sank a field goal with less than a minute remaining to tie the score.
LaBrae outscored Newton Falls 11-3 in overtime to capture the win.
The Vikings entered the game ranked third in the state in their division
“This was special,” LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. “There was a lot on the line.
“I’m definitely pleased with the end of the game,” he continued. “Not just with the score — it took good execution and determination on both ends of the floor to get the job done.
“This it the closest thing you can get without losing a game to get you a little bit of a wake-up call to things we need to straighten out before tournament time,” Kiser said.
LaBrae senior Matt Szorady sank four 3-pointers and was the team’s leading scorer with 16 points.
“We were real confident” at the start of the overtime period,” Szorady said.
“We had the momentum after cutting that six-point lead they had, we just kept going in overtime.”
The Vikings took the lead for good when junior Nathan Middleton sank two free throws for the first points in overtime.
“I just filled a role,” said Middleton, who scored 14 points in the game. “They probably looked past me, and only at Carrington [Herron] and Peyton [Aldridge].”
Herron, who scored 10 points, and Aldridge, who tallied nine points, are usually the Vikings’ top scorers.
But LaBrae’s top scorers “were well defended” by Newton Falls, Middleton said.
Newton Falls senior Cody Dillon scored 16 points to lead the Tigers. Mitchell Kovach, a senior, added nine points and senior Chase Nichols contributed eight points.
“I’m very disappointed with our performance tonight,” Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach said. “I feel like we gave the game away.”
“We played hard, I’ll give us that,” Sembach said. “Somehow we were only down five points at half.
“In the second half, we executed much better and we built a nice lead,” Sembach said. “We had several opportunities to put the lead away, but didn’t take advantage. If you don’t take advantage against a great basketball team like LaBrae, you’re going to lose, and that’s what happened.”