The whole incredible game was one long, strange trip.
So maybe it was fitting that the South Rowan-Davie County boys Christmas tourney semifinal was decided by an inadvertent trip with a mere one-tenth of a second left on the clock in double overtime.
When Davie’s Sean Stevens missed a 3-pointer with the score deadlocked and time running down in the second overtime, South’s Zach Overcash came out of a crowd with the biggest board of his life. Then, just as fans sat back in their seats, salivating the prospect of a third OT in this instant classic, they heard a whistle and saw an official’s hand rise slowly into the air.
Davie’s Nemanja Kreckovic had made contact with Overcash and a foul had been called with no more than a sliver of time left and with South 80 feet from scoring territory.
“No, I’m not surprised they called that foul,” said South coach John Davis. “I was surprised they didn’t call more illegal screens on Davie.”
Davie coach Jim Young, who chased officials around the court after the game like he was playing tag, offered a different perspective.
“You’ve got to swallow your whistle there,” he said. “But I don’t blame the officials. If we play well, if we play with some intensity in the first half, we’re up 20 and that call doesn’t have a lot of meaning.”
But it had all the meaning in the world when Overcash came through at the line to give the Raiders a 93-92 triumph and their fourth straight victory after a rocky start.
“I told Andrew Morgan that I had ’em,” grinned Overcash. “I work on them hard in practice.”
Indeed, just like it was a quiet Monday practice — not a major-league madhouse — Overcash swished his first free throw and left his right arm dangling in the sky in a start-the-party gesture to the South faithful.
“Yeah, that was for our crowd,” said Overcash. “They were going crazy.”
Overcash intentionally banged his second toss off the iron, making certain that time expired without Davie getting its hands on the ball for a potential miracle.
South’s upset win pooped the party for all those folks who had made holiday plans for a finals matchup between second-seeded Davie (6-2) and top-seeded West Rowan. Instead, South (7-4) gets its third chance to derail a 10-0 Falcon locomotive that looks more imposing by the hour. Gametime tonight is 7:30.
“Right now, I’m not worrying about West, I’m going home to rest and watch some football,” beamed Davis, after the Raiders reached the finals for the first time since 1997. “I told our kids to do the same thing.”
Those kids earned their rest. And then some.
Five Raiders reached double figures in one of the all-time team efforts. Morgan led the way with 18, while Tre Hornbeak (17), Overcash (13), David Lane (13) and Joel Patterson (12) all had their moments.
Davie got 35 from bomber Sean Stevens, who got assistance from Kreckovic (17) and Dan Sullivan (16).
Both teams appeared to have the game won several times, only to see the other side come scrapping back.
“We let South stay in it early,” said Sullivan. “Then they started believing they could play with us. And they did.”
“Davie came in here with lots of credentials and they had beaten some good teams,” said Davis. “But my guys played hard. We’ve got fiery guys, and they are good players. I challenged them. I asked them if they wanted to play in front of a bunch of people on Saturday night or not very many people on Saturday afternoon.”
Their preference was obvious.
The game began in slow motion, in stark contrast to its frantic finish. Morgan and Hornbeak played solid defense on Stevens, who hit only one of seven first-half 3-point tries. That kept South right in it, despite the War Eagles’ 18-for-21 foul-shooting. Sullivan finally got the War Eagles (6-2) rolling late in the half for a 43-38 at the break.
South’s defense shut out the War Eagles for seven-plus minutes in the second half, enabling the Raiders to score 14 straight and turn a 51-47 deficit into a 61-51 edge with 5:42 remaining.
Seemingly dead in the water at that point, Davie rallied after a Sullivan 3-pointer and grabbed a 75-74 lead on a Stevens 3 with 1:12 remaining.
Lane’s free throw and a Morgan drive gave the Raiders a 77-75 lead, but Davie reserve Luke Phelps came up with a putback with 26 seconds left to tie. Phelps then blocked Morgan’s potential winning layup at the end of regulation.
South had the last shot at the end of the first overtime, but Overcash’s runner wouldn’t fall.
The second OT was nothing short of amazing. Davie had lost Sullivan to fouls in the first overtime, but took charge in the second, anyway. The War Eagles led 90-85 late, but Morgan made a layup off a steal to cut the lead to three. Then Hornbeak knocked down a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to tie.
“They kept coming back on us, so we kept coming back on them,” said Overcash. “This was a great game for South Rowan.”
Davie’s Chris Stein hit two clutch free throws with 29 seconds to go, but Hornbeak answered with two of his own with 9.2 seconds left, and it was 92-92.
That set up Stevens’ miss from deep, Overcash’s rippling rebound — and that decisive whistle.
“Zach’s rebound was the key,” said Davis. “Once they called the foul, I knew the game was over. He’s one heck of a free-throw shooter.”
“My hat is off to South,” said Young. “They just would not roll over. They did everything they needed to do, whenever they needed to do it.”
n
NOTES: Davie takes on a dangerous North team for third place at 4 p.m. today... Young said the repeated stickbacks by South musclemen Patterson and Overcash were critical as were a half-dozen or so calls for illegal screens. “This crew called the screens tighter than most and that hurt us,” he said. ... It was a big bounce-back game for Hornbeak, who had scored only 18 in his last four outings combined.
SOUTH ROWAN (93) — Morgan 18, Hornbeak 17, Overcash 13, Lane 13, Patterson 12, Corriher 8, Mack 4, Biles 4, Keenner 3, Propst 1.
DAVIE COUNTY (92) — Stevens 35, Kreckovic 17, Sullivan 16, Hunter 7, Stein 6, Phelps 6, Hogue 5, Garner, Vestal.
South 15 23 18 21 5 11 — 93
Davie 16 27 8 26 5 10 — 92
Today's News
