S. Columbia outlasts E.J. in 2OT thriller
COCOLAMUS- Saturday was not a good night to end a streak.
The previously unbeaten East Juniata boys’ basketball team faced off against a gutty and gritty Southern Columbia team and played a heartbreaking double overtime thriller but came up short, 65-62 at the East Juniata high school Saturday afternoon.
Southern found a way to keep the duo of Bailey Coder and Nick Lorenz off their game at times. Throwing different defensive looks mixed with a stingy defense that rarely allowed second chance scoring efforts that E.J. was looking for.
Offensively, Lorenz had 18 going into the fourth and had a strong hand in extending the game to two extra periods.
Going onto the fourth quarter, Coder managed only six rebounds and four points.
East Juniata came into the fourth posting a slim one point lead, 37-36 but Sourthern took over early ongoing up by as much as six with time running out.
However, in the second
overtime the night belonged to Southern as they muscled out a three-point victory.
In the first quarter, East Juniata gave its fans a lot to cheer about as the team started strong from the tip-off.
Lorenz took the tip and went right at the heart of the Souirthern defense a forced a shooting foul. The captain hit one-of-two from the charity stripe to put the home team up 1-0.
After forcing a turnover on the following possession, the East Juniata offense went right to big man in the middle Coder. Coder did not disappoint as he hit a soft jumper in the lane for the game’s first field goal.
The Tri-Valley League champions kept rolling getting buckets en route to an 8-0 advantage with 6:09 left in the period. The scoring run forced Southern to call a time out.
But the E.J. offense kept rolling, finishing the first quarter with a 15-8 advantage.
East Juniata continued to roll early on, building up a 10-point lead at 23-13.
Momentum switched early in the second as Southern began to put pressure on the offensive and defensive boards trying to take the ball out of Coder and Lorenz’s hands.
The visitors also started to heat it up from the 3-point line and turned a 10-point deficit to a one-point 28-27 lead at the intermission.
In the third the two teams continued to battle things out, resulting in the East Juniata 37-36 advantage.
Unfortunately for East Juniata, the visitors had the answers late and forcing the home team to the first loss of the season.