The Hangar Rocks as Flyers Win Overtime Thriller
Trailing by eight points with just over a minute remaining in regulation on Saturday at the Hangar, the Sandhills Flyers turned the basketball game upside down with a swarming defense and came away with a 102-93 overtime victory over Wake Tech.
"We just looked at the scoreboard and didn't want to lose so we did what we had to do to get a "W"," freshman Chase Morrissette-Barnett said afterward. "Defense is what got us going. We weren't hitting a lot of shots so we had to use our defense to create our offense.
"We have to do that from the start instead of waiting until the last minute to get everything together."
Playing in his first game of the season, Mason Harrell used his 6-foot-8 presence to help trap and bottle up the Eagles in their backcourt during the rally. A dizzying final 71 seconds produced a 9-1 run that sent the teams into overtime tied at 82-82.
Morrissette-Barnett scored all 18 of his points in the game after the first half intermission, including nine of his team's 20 in the extra period. Welcome back just in time, Mason Harrell. The sophomore contributed 14 points, 16 rebounds, two assists and five blocked shots.
Parrish Stevons also played a big part in the defensive stand and led the Flyers with 19 points to go with nine boards. Donnie Haith scored 16 points and was credited with a game-high eight assists.
Coach Mike Apple's squad takes a 5-0 record into the finale of a six-game home stand at 7 p.m. on Wednesday against Guilford Tech (3-1).
"I give my guys credit for their intensity in the last three minutes of regulation and in the five minutes of overtime," the coach said. "We've got good quick defenders when we want to be quick defenders. They were able to make some steals and that changed the outcome of the game. That's going to be a building block and a stepping stone starting with the next game."
It was an uphill struggle all afternoon for the home team.
Wake Tech is coached by Adam Wainwright who was one of Apple's assistants for two seasons ending in 2014. For most of the game the Flyers were unable to contain 6-4 Eddie Volkerts (27 points and 14 rebounds) and 6-8 Nick Johnson (21 and 11).
The Flyers came back from an early 36-26 deficit to draw to within one at 45-44 at halftime. At the 17:45 mark of the second half Stevons fed Shane Garrison for a basket that gave them their first lead since early in the game at 48-47.
But the visitors took advantage of some lack luster play at both ends by the home team to take their largest lead at 74-62 on a three by Jordan Sheppard with 6:30 remaining in the game.
"I just think everybody was a little winded from last night," Morrissette-Barnett said, referring to a win over S4G late Friday. "We weren't getting back on defense. We were paying too much attention to the ball and not listening to Coach Apple."
The game-tying burst began with a baseline floater by Stevons at the 1:11 mark. Following a scoreless half of a minute, the Flyers scored five points in a span of five seconds.
Damauri Sexton canned a pair of free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound. Then Harrell stole the ball in the Eagles' backcourt and fed Morrissette-Barnett for what was turned into a three-point play, reducing the margin to 81-80 with 29.4 seconds remaining.
Volkerts split a pair of free throws before Haith drove for the layup that tied it up with six seconds remaining. Each team missed a potential game-winning shot in the closing seconds.
Starting with a three by Morrissette-Barnett, from Stevons, the Flyers scored the first seven points of the extra period. Moments later a three-point play by Harrell stretched the lead to nine.
"I came out slow, but once I was able to get my second wind I was good," said Harrell who missed the first four games because of an altercation in the final game of last season at Davidson County CC that resulted in the suspension of players from both teams. "It was very tough, but I thought I came back and had a decent game and took care of business."
His coach is glad to have him back.
"Mason did a great job on the boards," Apple said. "To his credit that's his first game of the season and having 16 rebounds is a heck of an effort on the back boards."
The Division II Eagles dropped to 2-2 with the loss.
Wake Tech – Watkins 2 0-0 5, Paspiewicz 1 0-0 2, Johnson 7 6-10 21, Volkerts 9 7-10 27, Banner 5 2-2 14, Samson 1 0-0 2, Jackson 2 8-12 12, Sheppard 3 2-2 9 Totals 30 25-36 93. Sandhills – Stevons 8 0-0 19, Clarkson 1 0-0 2, Morrissette-Barnett 7 3-3 18, Garrison 1 0-0 2, Harrell 6 2-3 14, Merriweather 2 0-0 5, Sexton 4 2-2 11, McCrimmon 0 2-2 2, McFadden 1 3-4 6, Haith 6 3-4 16, Peterson 1 2-2 4, Moore 0 0-0 0, Copeland 0 1-2 1, Childs 1 0-0 2, Grissett 0 0-0 0 Totals 38 18-22 102. Three-point goals: WT 8 (Volkerts 2, Banner 2, Watkins, Samson, Sheppard, Johnson); SCC 8 (Stevons 3, Merriweather, Sexton, McFadden, Haith, Morrissette-Barnett).