Boys Basketball | West Branch completes mega comeback at Carrollton
CARROLLTON — With one minute to go in the third quarter and trailing the by 21 points, it appeared that West Branch would drop its third consecutive Eastern Buckeye Conference contest.
However, West Branch finished the game with a 35-13 run to come away with a heart-topping 55-54 win at the "Black Hole."
"This is the wildest game that I have ever been a part of," said West Branch (10-2, 6-2 EBC) coach Michael Brown. "This game wasn't about x's and o's, it is about those guys in the locker room. They are winners, they have the confidence to win and they know how to win."
Jaxon Hendershott led West Branch, who trailed 41-20 late in the third quarter, with 18 points and Dru DeShields added 15 points.
Brock Smith, Jaxon Rinkes, Darick Miller, and Cadyn Smith scored 12 points each to lead Carrollton (2-12, 1-7), which took control of the game late in the first quarter with a 15-0 lead that stretched into the second quarter to take a 27-13 halftime lead.
"Carrollton couldn't have played any better in the first half, but we didn't panic going in at halftime because we have been in this position before," said Hendershott. "It was the law of averages — they weren't going to make those shots all night and we knew that when we got the stops that we could take advantage of that."
After Carrollton built its lead to 41-20, West Branch scored the last four points of the third quarter to trail 41-24 with eight minutes to play.
Hendershott and Miller traded baskets to open the quarter. West Branch continued to chip away at the Carrollton lead. DeShields scored four consecutive points and Hendershott made pair of free throws by Hendershott, then stole an inbounds pass and scored to pull West Branch to within nine points, 43-34, with 5:40 remaining.
Michael Kanagy added a reverse layup and Hendershott hit a 3 to cut the Carrollton lead to four points, 43-39 with 4:46 to play.
"It's a long way down here, but our fans were behind us and they were loud," said Hendershott. "There was a lot of energy here. When we started making our move in the fourth quarter we knew that we were going to win this game. When we were chipping at the lead you could see the fear in their eyes."
West Branch cut the lead to one point, 45-44, on a 3-pointer from the corner by freshman Joey Jackson at the 3:30 mark.
Carrollton pushed its lead back to four points but Nick Wilson pulled West Branch back to within two points and Kanagy tied the game at 50-50 with 1:16 remaining.
Carrollton regained the lead on a free throw and forced a West Branch turnover with 55.9 seconds remaining. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Hendershott intercepted and scored to give West Branch its first lead of the game with 48 seconds remaining.
Jackson gave West Branch a 54-51 lead after hitting both ends of a 1-and-1, then DeShields stole the inbounds pass and was fouled with 7.2 seconds remaining. DeShields split the pair of free throws to give WB a 55-51 lead before Carrollton hit an uncontested 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
"Through 24 minutes we were the better team tonight, but they showed their championship mettle in the fourth quarter," said Carrollton coach Mike Aukerman. "Our boys battled tonight, but when we got to the fourth quarter, things went wrong for us and things went right for them. They made the plays down the stretch when they needed to."
Brown was proud of his team's resiliency.
"Hats off to Carrollton, they really came ready to play," he said. "We came out a little flat tonight and they made us pay for that. Carrollton did a lot of good things.
"We have been in a lot of close games this year and they keep their composure and they know how to win."
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: West Branch rallies from 21-point deficit to beat Carrollton
