Boys Basketball | Waterloo rallies, beats Sebring in overtime
ATWATER — The Sebring Trojans came close to getting their first Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference win of the season and the first for coach Lee Knepp Friday night in the Fred Brookover Gymnasium at Waterloo High School.
But it was not to be. The Vikings outscored the Trojans 8-3 in overtime for a 58-53 win.
Waterloo coach Jason Wise credited the Trojans with playing a good game.
“Sebring played really, really well,” Wise said. “They probably deserved to win the game. They were better than us for three-plus quarters before we got it going.”
And going they did.
“We made a couple of shots and were able to dig ourselves out of a big hole,” said Wise. “We have got to do a better job of understanding our situations down the stretch of close games. We are a young team and we had too many mental mistakes when we had a lead. Those let Sebring hang around and get it to overtime. It is a mindset, and our mindset has to be better going into games.”
Sebring trailed 50-47 with senior Noah Frederick at the line for two shots with 2.9 seconds left in regulation.
He made the first, the banged the second off the rim. Sophomore Dustin Black grabbed the rebound and banked it off the glass to tie the game at 50-50 and send the contest to overtime.
“That worked perfectly,” said Knepp. “I am really proud of the guys. They played hard and together. We are a young team in terms of experience, and we are still growing.”
Sebring junior Scott Boston had a huge game for the Trojans with 22 points, including six 3-pointers before fouling out.
“He said before the game that he liked this gym to shoot in,” Knepp said.
Sebring seemed to be pulling away in the third quarter behind the long-range shooting of Boston, who canned four 3-pointers in the quarter. They led by as many as 13 points midway through the frame.
However, Waterloo closed strong to cut the Trojan lead to 43-33 going into the fourth.
The Vikings (4-9, 4-4 MVAC) outscored Sebring 17-7. They took the lead with just over two minutes to play on a 3-pointer by senior Luke Simons at 48-47.
Simons led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, while junior Navarre Alhassan added 12 and junior Anthony Podojil finished with 11.
For Sebring (3-11, 0-9) Noah Frederick was in double figures with 10 points with Black adding 11.
Sebring led 11-8 after the opening quarter and 27-23 at the half.
Before the start of the varsity game, longtime Waterloo coach, Ron Knepp, Lee Knepp's father, was honored for his 35-plus years of coaching at Waterloo.
“This is really a big honor for our family," Lee Knepp said. “It was around a year ago at this time that he passed away. This has been a tough week.”
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Waterloo defeats Sebring in OT in Mahoning Valley Ath. Conf. boys hoops
