2/4/16

Olympia 82, Timberline 76 (OT)

(Olympia, WA) A 20-point lead, a buzzer beating highlight reel shot to tie the game and send it to overtime, 48 fouls, 3 players fouled out, 65 free throws with 27 misses are just the highlights of this incredible game with quite a bit on the line. If Oly could defend their home court they would clinch 2nd place in the Narrows 4A and get to host their opening round District Tournament game next Wednesday. If the Blazers could pull off the win they would tie the Bears for 2nd and the two teams would have played a 3rd game at Capital High School on Saturday to break the tie, a loss for Timberline would give them 3rd place but a road game to open District play.

The Bears came out hot letting the Blazers know they had no intention of playing a 3rd game with them and were ready to clamp down 2nd place. Olympia would put up 20 points in each of the 1st 2 quarters building a 40-26 lead at the half. David Woodward led the charge with 11 but foul trouble would slow him down in the 2nd half. There were 6 others who put up 1st half points for Olympia.

The Blazers were on the verge of falling too far behind and thanks to Jarryn Bush’s 11 points they stayed in the mix as the 3rd quarter began. The Bears were smelling blood and probably believed they threw the knockout punch when they extended their lead to 20 early in the 3rd.

Timberline would not go so quietly and began to dig out of this massive hole. They were helped by an abundant of fouls called on the Bears and would go to the foul line 32 times. You would think that would keep you in the game and certainly a huge advantage but when you literally shoot 50% hitting only 16 the Blazers left a ton of points on the floor.

After cutting the lead to 10 at the end of the 3rd the Blazer comeback continued. Timberline wore down the Bears who continued to find themselves in foul trouble. The Blazers would finally cut the lead to a single possession trailing 71-68 with 29 seconds to play but Woodward at the line with a chance to push it to a 2-possession game. Woodward would miss and the Blazers Eli Morton would sprint to the other end and drive to the hoop but missed and the Bears Brett Thompson would grab the loose ball and get fouled.

Now with just 7.5 seconds to play Thompson could certainly end it by hitting the front end of the 1-1 but the shot rolled off and Erik Stevenson rebounded for the Blazers. Stevenson would then almost fall down and lose the handle on the ball but quickly regained it. He then crossed mid-court and while triple teamed stepped back with a fall-away shot launched from 5 feet behind the arc and as the buzzer sounded it was nothing but the bottom of the net sending the game to overtime as Timberline made up the entire 20 point deficit. This would go down as our ProActive Play of the Game.

The overtime period did not live up to the drama of the 4th quarter and the Bears buckled down and finally put the Blazers away with the 6 point win. Both sides will likely be spending more time at the free throw line this week as both teams can point right to the charity stripe for the reason the Blazers lost and the reason the Bears had to go to overtime to finally put away the Bears. The Blazers finished 16-32 and the Bears 22-33.

Olympia’s Liam Murphy was the stabilizing force down the stretch taking over the ball handling duties after Eddie Beusch fouled out and hitting a late 3-pointer while going 4-4 at the line in OT helping the Bears to the win. Hunter Sipe also had a solid game finishing with a team high 20 points.

Timberline’s Stevenson finished strong after a slow start for a game high 22 points while Jarryn Bush knocked down 19. Austin Curry and Jaelyn Bush also put in strong performances for the Blazers. Timberline will settle for 3rd place and will be on the road in their district tourney opener.

Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the game went to Olympia’s Liam Murphy and Timberline’s Jarryn Bush.

Scoring:

Olympia: Sipe 20, Thompson 14, Murphy 13, Woodward 13, Beusch 11, Hernandez 5, Efflund 3, Young 3

Timberline: Stevenson 22, Jarryn Bush 19, Curry 13, Jaelyn Bush 9, Rouse 6, Morton 5, Allison 2

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