ATHENS RALLIES FROM 16-POINT 4TH-QUARTER DEFICIT TO EDGE WELLSBORO, 54-53
By: Tim Birney | AthensWildcats.com | January 15, 2021 | Photo courtesy David Alliger
ATHENS — Athens wiped out a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit in less than
three minutes, then needed a pair of 3-pointers by sophomore Mason
Lister in the final 47 seconds to pull off a stunning, 54-53,
come-from-behind win over Wellsboro here Friday night in NTL boys
basketball action.
Through the first three-plus quarters, the
Wildcats shot less than 30 percent from the field, and were
out-rebounded by a smaller Wellsboro team, but junior Tucker Brown’s
3-pointer triggered a 17-1 blitz that pulled Athens even with just over 2
minutes to play.
“I’ve been waiting for these kids to get going
for three games,” said Athens coach Jim Lister. “I know what they can
do, I’ve seen it for years. They just needed to turn it up a notch, and
to get excited.
“All of a sudden, I think Tucker Brown’s 3
sparked them,” he noted. “They started playing defense, they started
attacking … it was a whole different team in the last five minutes.
“I’m
proud of them, they didn’t quit,” added Lister. “We did a lot of things
wrong tonight, but hopefully we can use this as a stepping stone to get
going, and win some basketball games.”
Wellsboro jumped out to
an early 8-2 lead, but Lister and junior J.J. Babcock scored fast-break
buckets, and senior Griffin Stein canned a 3-pointer with 2 seconds
remaining in the first quarter to give the Wildcats a 9-8 advantage.
Athens
took a 13-12 lead on a pair of free throws with 4:36 remaining in the
first half, but Wellsboro scored five straight points to take a 17-13
lead.
The team exchanged buckets, with Wellsboro’s Isaac Keane
scoring with 5 seconds remaining to give the Green Hornets a 21-17 lead
at the half.
Peyton McClure buried a 3-pointer on Wellsboro’s
first possession of the second half, and Darryn Callahan added a bucket
with 7:03 remaining in the third quarter to up the Hornets’ advantage to
26-17.
Lister scored a bucket in transition with 5:48 remaining,
and Babcock followed with two fast-break buckets in the next 59 seconds
to cut the deficit to 26-23. It could have been closer, but the
Wildcats went 0-for-5 from the free-throw line in that stretch.
Keane stopped the Athens run with a 3-pointer with 4:10 left in the third quarter to make it 29-23.
Athens
cut the deficit to 31-27 with 2:49 left on a fast-break bucket by
Babcock, but Liam Manning scored the final four points of the quarter to
give the Green Hornets a 35-27 lead heading into the final eight
minutes.
McClure drained another 3-pointer on Wellsboro’s first possession of the fourth quarter to stretch the Wellsboro lead to 38-27.
After
Lister knocked down a runner in the lane to cut the deficit to 38-29
with 6:55 left in the fourth quarter, Wellsboro used a 9-2 spurt —
capped by an old-fashioned three-point play Callahan — to take a 47-31
lead with 5:07 remaining in the contest.
The Wildcats made just
14 of 51 shots to this point, but made 8 of 10 down the stretch,
including four 3-pointers. They were also 3 of 10 from the free-throw
line for the game..
“We can’t continue to miss easy lay-ups, and
miss free throws,” said Lister. “It’s stuff we work on every single day,
and talk about all the time.
“I’ve told you, it’s a simple
formula: play defense, make lay-ups, make fouls shots, and win
basketball games,” noted Lister. “We have to do that.”
With 4:51
remaining in the contest, Brown buried a 3-pointer, and junior Nalen
Carling followed with an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the
deficit to 47-37.
After a free throw by Connor Adams pushed the
Wellsboro lead back to 11 points, Carling knocked down a short jumper,
and junior Tucker Brown drove through traffic for a lay-up to trim the
deficit to 48-41 with 3:39 left in the game.
Carling kept it
going with a long 3-pointer from behind the top of the key to cut the
Wellsboro lead to 48-44 with 3:02 remaining.
On Wellsboro’s next
trip down the court, Babcock blocked a shot, and then got out in front
of the fast break for an uncontested lay-up. Moments later, Lister
picked up a steal, and found junior Shayne Reid for a lay-up in
transition to tie the game at 48-48 with 2:08 left in the game.
After
an Athens timeout, Keane scored on a short jumper to put Wellsboro up
50-48 with 1:42 remaining. Moments later, Adams registered a steal and
was fouled on his way to the bucket. He made 1 of 2 to up the Green
Hornet lead to 51-48 with 59 seconds left.
With 47 seconds
remaining, Lister buried a 3-pointer from deep in the corner to tie the
game. After a defensive stop by the Wildcats, Lister drained another
3-pointer with 10 seconds left to give them a 54-51 lead.
Wellsboro’s game-tying 3-pointer rimmed out, and Manning’s tip-in at the buzzer provided the final margin.
Babcock
led Athens with 16 points and three rebounds, while Lister had 14
points, nine rebonds, three steals, and two blocked shots, and Carling
added 10 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Brown had five
points, four assists, and three steals in the win, while Stein had five
points, four boards, and one blocked shot, and Reid had four points and
three assists.
Keane scored 15 points and grabbed 11 boards, and
Manning tallied 14 points and hauled down 13 rebounds to lead Wellsboro,
while McClure had 13 points, and Callahan added 11 points.
Athens, now 2-2, returns to action Saturday when it hosts NEB. The JV game tips at 4 p.m.
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