CUMBERLAND — In the final game for both teams before the Thanksgiving break, Allegany and Garrett gave Bob Kirk Arena plenty to be thankful for.
The Trojans (5-5, 3-2 NJCAA Region 20) and the Lakers (6-2, 1-1 Region 20) battled for 95 minutes, needing three overtimes to decide a winner on Tuesday.
In the end, Allegany emerged victorious in a 121-115 victory.
“I really challenged our kids at the half,” ACM head coach Tommie Reams said. “I thought the first half, we weren’t playing clean basketball. We weren’t playing to the standard effort-wise or discipline-wise we’ve set forth every day. I called everybody out at halftime, I really went at the guys. Tried to make them understand that we aren’t a results-oriented program, we’re a process-oriented program. If we play well, good things happen.”
The majority of the first 80 minutes it was anyone’s game.
With 8:29 remaining in the second half, Keyonta Johnson gave the Lakers a 66-65 lead with a pair of free throws.
Garrett held the lead for the next seven minutes, but Allegany kept it within one possession.
“What a game, it had the typical Garrett vs. Allegany showdown type of feel from the second it tipped off for 55 minutes,” Garrett head coach Matt McCullough said. “Back and forth through the contest. Great effort by both teams. A heck of a game.”
Tied at 83 with 1:13 to go, Marqui Olds put the Lakers ahead 85-83 on a layup.
Sebastian Henson then set up Edward Johnson for a layup on the other end to tie the game.
“I was talking with our guys and I felt more and more confident with our team the longer that game went,” Reams said. “Not in the end result, in the amount of attention to detail, in their focus, in their energy.”
Henson scored 17 points while Johnson added 14.
Garrett was called for a shot clock violation, and after three chances at a last shot, ACM’s layup at the buzzer failed to fall.
In the first overtime, the Lakers never trailed, but continued to keep the difference within one score.
A free throw by Nasir Coleman put Garrett ahead 95-93 with 4.6 seconds left.
Coleman finished with 22 points and shot 7 of 10 at the free-throw line.
Out of a timeout, Jaylen Brown set up Henson for a layup to force double overtime.
“The first two overtimes, I felt like we had a chance to close both times,” McCullough said. “Give Allegany a lot of credit, anytime it felt like anytime we had an opportunity to put them away they hit a huge shot.”
With six seconds left in double overtime, Brown connected with Brandon Anderson for a 3-pointer to put Allegany up three.
Brown led the Trojans with 26 points, 11 assists and four rebounds.
“We knew at the end of overtime one, we wanted the ball in Jaylen’s hands,” Reams said. “We knew at the end of overtime two we wanted the ball in Jaylen’s hands to make the right decision. He made the right one and got it to Brandon Anderson. That third overtime, those possessions, we had the ball in the right guy’s hands.”
Garrett failed to inbound for a turnover, but Gavin Jackson came up with a steal.
He put up an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer that fell and sent the game into triple overtime.
The Trojans took the lead for good in the third extra period with 2:56 left on a free throw by Anderson.
The Lakers were forced to foul, and Allegany went on a 7-1 run to push the lead to 120-113 with 17.2 seconds left.
“Garrett opened those overtimes, all three with quick buckets,” Reams said. “We had to fight back, I think we understood that spacing the floor and staying in attack mode was working. At the beginning of the first overtime, we were hoisting 3s. I thought we did a better job of executing simple plays.”
In the first half, Jackson came out firing with three 3-pointers and 11 first-half points.
Jackson finished with a game-high 35 points including six 3-pointers.
“Gavin stepped up and made a lot of plays for us,” McCullough said. “He can score it at a high level. especially when he hits a couple in a row and gains confidence. It was an incredible effort by him and our team did a good job of executing some sets to get him shots.”
Garrett led for most of the half, but Allegany kept it to within one or two possessions.
The Lakers biggest lead in the first half was six points at 35-29.
“We were able to keep it kinda tight, a lot of that had to do with some good shooting early on,” Reams said. “Early on, I felt we got some good looks. I thought defensively at times, we were good. But Garrett swarmed the offensive glass, they had to have 15 offensive boards. We were able to weather the storm. Garrett’s a team of runs. We have to be able to fight through those times of adversity.”
On the final play of the first half, Jackson sent a nearly half-court pass to Johnson for a layup to extend Garrett’s lead to 41-38.
The teams combined for 70 free throws and 48 total fouls.
The Lakers shot 17 of 42 (40%) at the line while the Trojans were 25 of 28 (89%).
Alex Byrd finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds for Allegany while Gabe Jones added 13 points and four rebounds.
K’Shawn Scott recorded 19 points including 14 in the second half while Stephen Robinson added 10 for Garrett.
The Trojans travel to Hagerstown for the Jim Brown Classic on Saturday at 1 p.m. where they will face County College of Morris on Saturday and Monroe on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“It shows that it’s in there,” Reams said of the team’s resiliency. “We don’t know how to do it for 40-straight minutes yet. We don’t know what we’re capable of because we haven’t had that type of effort and that kind of commitment to the process for the whole, entire game. I thought the second half and some overtimes were the best we’ve looked all year. So we know we got something to work with, now it’s a matter of teaching these guys that they gotta live every moment, play hard every second and trust each other.”
The Lakers head to Westmoreland County on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.