Backs to the wall, Stallions boys rally past Eagles

Monday, January 26, 2009
By SETH SHANER

It was a comeback even most of the near-capacity crowd at Otterbein's Rike Center couldn't believe.

The DeSales boys basketball team, down 44-24, with just over two minutes to play in the third quarter to archrival Watterson Friday, Jan. 23, didn't seem to be in position to remain undefeated in league play, much less avoid its first loss to the Eagles since March, 12, 2004.

But the Stallions (11-2, 5-0 Central Catholic League), with ferocious full-court pressure and timely shooting, staged a 24-4 run that culminated in an overtime period, where they'd ultimately come out on top 51-50, thanks to more heroics.

"Unfortunately, nothing went right in the first half," DeSales coach Blair Albright said. "That's totally a credit to the way Watterson played. I thought they completely outclassed us for the first two, two-and-a-half quarters."

After going 1-for-12 from inside the three-point line in the first half, the Stallions attacked more in the second, allowing them to set up their pressure defense.

"Being able to score it better in the second half gave us a chance to be in the pressure (defense) that we needed to be in," Albright explained. "I guess, in a lot of ways, having our backs to the wall the way we did worked in our favor. We didn't have a choice but to play the way we played."

With just 0.7 seconds remaining in the extra frame, junior Adam Griffin, possibly the shortest player on the floor, grabbed a backside rebound, adjusted and went up toward the basket, only to be fouled.

Griffin calmly knocked down the first free throw before a timeout, during which a strategy of intentionally missing the second shot was planned, leaving Watterson with the most desperate of heaves as time ran out.

"We have a saying on our team that, 'Griff doesn't miss free throws,' and that's what I was thinking when I went to the line," Griffin said.

"We just can't get off to starts like that. Watterson's a good opponent, but we just can't afford to do that again. I thought we were fine the whole time, and was never really that nervous."

The full story can't truly be told in one part, for Watterson dominated the first two-and-a-half quarters much more convincingly than the Stallions did at the end.

Playing a suffocating two-three zone defense to start the game, and relying on a three-point barrage from sophomore Zach Riddle -- Riddle scored a career 19 points in the first half, including five three-pointers -- the Eagles looked every bit the solid squad coach Vince Lombardo had hoped he'd see all season.

"That (zone's) something we've been working on all year," Lombardo said. "Our kids do a great job with it and we've really worked hard at it. Even throughout the game, you can't take away everything from DeSales, I thought we did an excellent job.

"We tried to make adjustments here and there when we were getting hurt in certain spots. I feel badly for the kids, because they did such an excellent job for most of the game. You've got to finish."

Riddle wouldn't score again in the game, and following a surge that stretched a 32-19 halftime lead to the aforementioned 20 points, Watterson lost its momentum.

"He had some good looks in the first half," Lombardo said of Riddle. "He was feeling it, but he had zero in the second half. DeSales obviously made an adjustment there."

DeSales junior Nick Kellogg scored 19 points, while Griffin poured in 12 and senior Nick Goff added 10.

Riddle led all Watterson scorers, while junior Matt Schweitzer tallied 10 points.

The loss was the second overtime defeat of the week for the Eagles, as Westerville South stopped them at home 45-40 Jan. 20.

Watterson will look to get back on track with a home date against St. Charles Friday, Jan. 30, at 7:45 p.m.

The Stallions are to square off with Worthington Christian Jan. 30, also at 7:45 p.m.