Shoot out at Spring Mills; Braught’s buzzer beater lifts Rams over Huskies

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: January 29, 2021

By Kenny Varner

SPRING MILLS – With the contest tied at 37 and 1.6 seconds left, Penns Valley’s Zach Braught got the inbounds pass and hit a turnaround triple as the buzzer sounded, lifting the Rams over a spirited MIfflin County team, 40-37.

It would be a fourth quarter that would see MIfflin County chipped the lead from four down to knot the game, forcing Braught’s shot at the buzzer.

Braught not only face the difficult turnaround jumper but he has to hit it in a crowd.

As the ball went in, he was mobbed by his teammates.

“We knew both teams were going to be running a zone. It was let’s be patient and got off to a slow start. But we didn’t panic and we were able to hit some shots and we did just enough to win.,” said Penns Valley coach Rob Irwin.

Heading into the final stanza, the Rams held a 30-24 lead.

MIfflin County got on the scoreboard first as Cole Knable drove the lane for the bucket.

Penns Valley’s man in the middle, John Aston put the lead back to six as he took it hard to the bucket. Aston finished with 10 points and eight boards.

Cade Penepacker was fouled on the Huskies next possession, sending him to the foul line.

He was automatic on both shots, cutting it back to four.

MIfflin County forced a turnover and got the ball backdown the court with a chance to cut into the lead even more.

Ty Felmlee went up for the 3-point shot but was fouled in the process. He then went to the line and hit three consecutive shots from the charity stripe to pull the Huskies within one.

On the following Rams possession, the MIfflin County defense forced a turnover and went on the break. The Huskies finished off the break with Jayden Jackson dishing it to Felmlee underneath, giving MIfflin County back the lead at 33-32.

Jackson then would finish off a Penns Valley turnover, extending the Huskies’ lead to 35-32 with 3:15 left.

But with one flick of the wrist by Caleb Narber, the game was tied as he drilled the three.

The Rams forced a MIfflin County turnover and Aidan Culver pulled down the offensive board and hit the outback, extending it to 37-35 with 2:34 left.

That would be enough for the Huskies to take a time out and hammer out a play to tie the contest.

Despite the Rams bringing the ball up court, MIfflin County’s Cole Knable stole the ball and laid it up to knot the game at 37 with a minute left on the clock.

Defensively, the Huskies closed down the middle and prevented the Rams to penetrate. They would force the Rams to run the clock down to 1.6 seconds and were forced to call a time out.

Braught’s catch and release triple moved his team to 3-3 on the season while dropping the battling Huskies to 0-2.

Starting off the contest, MIfflin County was sparked by a 9-point performance by Owen Wise, who was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, gave the Huskies a 14-5 lead after one.

“I told them (MIfflin County) that you never want to coach effort and we didn’t have to,” said MIfflin County coach Bob Sealy. “We weren’t technically sound with things they listened to what they were trying to do, they played their rear ends off all the way to the end. The efforts there we’ll just mix in some better technique and we will be fine.

Bolstering a shutdown defense, the Rams got back in the game and rallied to take a halftime lead at 20-16.

The two would go back and forth in the third as the Huskies would trail by six going into the final period.