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Wildcats force OT, defeat Redskins

GOING UP — Edison’s Alec McBane attempts to block a shot from Indian Creek’s Isaiah Vandine on Tuesday. -Andrew Grimm

RICHMOND — After letting one get away on Friday, Edison wasn’t going to let it happen again.

Fresh off allowing a fourth-quarter lead slip away in a home loss to rival Buckeye Local a few nights earlier, the Wildcats trailed after each of the first three quarters Tuesday night on their home court against Indian Creek.

The Wildcats battled back to force an extra period, raced out to a big lead, then held on for dear life, as the clock hit zeros for their first win of the young season, 50-47.

“You can call it resilient,” Edison head coach Nate Moses said. “Game 3, our goal is always the same. You always want to win the next game, and that was our goal coming in. We talked about in the locker room before the game, do whatever it takes to come out of here with a win — and we did that. Not without some trials and tribulations, we definitely didn’t play our best game, but we won the game. It’s good to get the first win, especially coming off a game like last Friday night when we were up in the fourth quarter and let a lead slip away. It’s a good bounce-back”

“You have to give Creek a lot of credit. I’m very impressed by their freshman point guard (Logan Kuczykowski). You know what you’re going to get when you play Indian Creek — a hard-nosed defensive team that is going to play hard.”

Alec McBane paced Edison (1-2) with 15 points, while Andrew Pugh sunk some key baskets and free throws down the stretch and followed close behind with 14 points.

“Andre had a nice game, Alec had a nice game,” Moses said. “The key to what we’re trying to do is we want different guys to score. We knew with Alec coming off a huge game they were going to key on him, so other guys had to step up and Andrew did.”

For Indian Creek (0-4), the first win eluded it once again despite holding the lead for most of the game. The Redskins had a golden opportunity to win the game at the buzzer, as they possessed the ball for the final 33 seconds and Logan Kuczykowski took a shot as the clock was winding down, but it fell short.

“I have to have them better prepared for games like this, because any game that we are going to win is going to be one just like this,” Indian Creek head coach Joe Dunlevy said. “We’re not going to beat anyone by 20. We did some things at the end of the game that teams that are coached well don’t do. We have to work harder in practice to understand what we are supposed to do at the end of the game, because we wasted a tremendous defensive effort by my kids. There was nothing that happened because of a lack of effort, it was a lack of knowledge. And, a lack of knowledge comes from the coach. So, I have to get them more knowledgeable to perform in situations like they faced tonight.

“Congratulations to Nate and his kids.”

Kuczykowski led Indian Creek with 19 points, while Isaiah Vandine was not far behind with 17 points.

“We can learn from this,” Dunlevy said. “We’ve got a list of things to work on from it and we will start working on them (today).”

Indian Creek started the game on an 8-1 run, but 3-pointers from McBane and Jayden Sanders helped the Wildcats close the gap down to just 12-10 by the end of the opening quarter. Edison then took a 14-12 lead early in the second quarter, before a Kuczykowski trey gave the Redskins back the lead. They would not surrender it again until there was 6:09 to go in the fourth quarter.

He drained another from beyond the arc to make it 20-16, but once again Edison came on strong down the stretch to leave Dunlevy’s squad up just one at the break at 24-23.

“I thought our guys, once we settled down, really did a good job of coming back,” Moses said. “It’s nice to see, especially after our last game.”

After opening up a five-point lead early in the third, Indian Creek held a 35-33 advantage going to the fourth. They would only score five points in the final eight minutes of regulation, though, as Edison took a lead and ultimately forced overtime. McBane drained a pair of free throws to tie the score at 40-40 in the final minute.

From there, the Wildcats took over, scoring the first six points of overtime and going on a 10-1 run to open extra time.

“It was a gut-check,” Moses said. “We were down six or seven points at one point in the fourth quarter. It was resiliency.”

The Redskins, however, were not going to go away quietly.

With 24.3 seconds to go, Kuczykowski sunk a 3-pointer, then Pugh was fouled — and missed both from the line. Jacob Wright drained another trey with 11 seconds to play to make it a three-point game, then the Redskins forced a turnover with 4.5 seconds still showing on the clock. The last-gasp shot came from Vandine in the corner, but it didn’t connect, the rebound bounced away and the clock ran out, giving Edison the win.

“It never seems to be easy with us,” Moses said. “We were up nine in overtime, then next thing you know we’re only up three with them having a chance to tie the game at the end. We got a win and that’s all we can ask.”

GAME NOTES

In the jayvee contest, Indian Creek took a 45-33 victory. Bryson Bodo led the Redskins with 13 points, while Jayden Sanders had 11 to lead Edison.

UP NEXT

INDIAN CREEK: Hosts Beaver Local in Buckeye 8 Conference action on Friday night.

EDISON: Returns home Saturday night to host Southern Local.

(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com)

Edison 50, Indian Creek 47 (OT)

Indian Creek 12-12-11-5-7 — 47

Edison 10-13-10-7-10 — 50

INDIAN CREEK (0-4): M. Kuczykowski 0 0-0 0; L. Kuczykowski 6 4-10 19; McClurg 1 0-0 2; Williams 0 0-0 0; Irizarry 1 1-2 3; Wright 2 0-0 5; Vandine 7 3-4 17; Morris 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 17 9-18 47. 3-POINT GOALS: 4 (L. Kuczykowski 3, Wright).

EDISON (1-2): Woods 2 0-0 4; West 0 1-2 1; Sanders 1 0-1 3; Moses 3 1-2 8; Cline 1 0-0 2; Hanchin 1 1-2 3; McBane 5 5-7 15; Pugh 3 7-13 14. TOTALS: 16 15-27 50. 3-POINT GOALS: 3 (Sanders, Moses, Pugh).

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