Survive and advance, Devils win sectional in OT

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Survive and advance. In the high school basketball postseason, that is simply what it’s all about, especially if you are the favored squad. Coming off an 18-4 regular season, Coach Nathan Copas and his #4 seeded North Adams Green Devils were back in action after a two-week layoff on Saturday, February 25, hosting the # 13 seeded Belpre Eagles in a Division III sectional championship. The atmosphere was very tournament-like, big boisterous crowds filling both sides of the NAHS gym, and the contest they witnessed turned out to be much more exciting than Coach Copas and the North Adams faithful were counting on, but in tournament play, anything can happen.

The Devils didn’t turn in one of their crispest performances of the season and it nearly cost them their season. North Adams blew a five-point lead in the last three minutes of regulation, but recovered during an overtime period to escape the Belpre upset attempt and win a Division III sectional championship by a final count of 56-49.

“You don’t like to use the excuse of being off 15 days but we were just very stagnant on offense tonight,” said Coach Copas in a postgame radio interview. “When we did move the ball, which was very seldom, we got some good looks, but we weren’t consistent nough doing that. We turned them over early, got some easy shots and got some momentum going and then we just quit guarding the basketball. They made some good shots but a lot of that was us being out of position defensively.”

“This wasn’t a pretty win but at this point, it doesn’t matter.”

It looked early on Saturday night as if the Devils had no rust from the long layoff as they opened with the game’s first 10 points. the last of those a Carson Osborne basket at the 2:55 mark of the opening period. Just as quickly, however, the Eagles emerged from their nest and blanked the home team over that final 2:55, while scoring their first six points of the game to cut the North Adams lead to 10-6 after one quarter of action.

The second quarter was sloppy on both sides,with many more missed opportunities than ones that were cashed in, The Devils got back-to-back buckets from Cody Hesler to lead 14-8, but the Eagles answered with a Tucker Liston three-pointer to slice the gap in half. With 2:05 left in the first half, a three-ball from the Devils’ Breestin Schweickart put the home team up 17-13 and a later two-point goal from Schweickart kept North Adams up four. The final score of the first half came on a put back by Belpre’s Blake Church, leaving the Eagles trailing by just two, 19-17, at the intermission.

Coming out of the break, the Devils struck first with a three-point play then a steal and score from Hesler to open up a seven-point advantage. A drive and score by Bransyn Copas kept the North Adams lead at 26-19, but the Devils couldn’t stand prosperity and allowed the Eagles a 6-0 run that cut the lead to a single point with 3:05 left in the third quarter.

The Devils bounced back with a two and a three from Copas and then a runout basket from Hesler that resulted in his second “and one” of the quarter and a 34-27 lead. Belpre closed the third period with a pair of Derek Liston free throws to move within five as the fourth quarter began.

With scores on their first two possessions of the final frame, the Eagles snatched the momentum and closed to within one. A Copas free throw and a steal and layup from Schweickart pushed the North Adams lead back to four, but a Belpre three-pointer cut it right back to one. A minute off the clock later, Osborne answered with a triple followed by a Jayce Rothwell free throw and again the home side led by five at 41-36. A later bucket by Dillon Ragan made it 43-38 as the Devils continued to hang on but the resilient Eagles didn’t make the two-hour trip to Seaman to go down without a fight.

A basket by Junior Bass and then a three-point goal by Derek Liston and with just over two minutes left in regulation, and the game was suddenly tied at 43. A Rothwell layup put the Devils back in front but two free throws from Bass with 47.6 seconds left tied the score again. The Devils then held for the final shot and the win at home but misfired on a three-point attempt and the two teams headed for overtime deadlocked at 45 apiece.

Th extra period began with both teams getting single free throws on their opening possessions. A Ragan score in the paint followed by two Osborne free throws after a Belpre turnover gave North Adams a 50-46 advantage with 1:47 left and a Belpre free throw cut the lead to three with 1:21 to go.

Coach Copas called a timeout and out of that break, the Devils ran a perfect set that resulted in a wide open Rothwell layup and a 52-47 lead. The Devils began to pull away, taking advantage of another Eagles’ turnover for another Rothwell score and a now more comfortable 55-47 lead with less than a minute remaining. An Osborne free throw with 16.5 seconds left closed out the scoring as the Devils survived a mighty scare to claim the sectional crown and move on to the district tournament.

In the win, the now 19-4 Green Devils were led in scoring by three players who reached double figures, led by Cody Hesler’s 14 points, with Bransyn Copas and Carson Osborne adding 11 each. Jayce Rothwell scored 7 for the winners, including two big baskets in the overtime period. Off the bench, Breestin Schweickart also scored 7 with Dillon Ragan contributing a solid 6.

“At this stage of the game, everyone has to contribute,” said Coach Copas. “Hopefully we can continue that and keep playing through mistakes and adversity.”

Belpre also place a trio in double figures, led by a game-high 18 points from Drek Liston, with Blake Church adding 11 and Tucker Liston 10. In a close loss, the Eagles suffered from the free throw line, hitting just 11 of 22 from the stripe.

The sectional champion Devils moved on to the district semi-finals, where they faced Lucasville Valley on Tuesday, February 28 in Waverly. No score was available on that contest by press time but look for a full report in a future edition.

Belpre

6 11 12 16 4 —49

North Adams

10 9 15 11 11 —56

Belpre (49): Spencer 1 0-0 3, Ferrier o 0-2 0, T. Liston 4 1-3 10, Church 5 1-4 11, D. Liston 5 6-9 18, Bass 2 3-4 7, Team 17 11-22 49.

N. Adams (56): Rothwell 3 1-2 7, Hesler 6 2-2 14, Copas 4 2-5 11, Osborne 3 4-6 11, Schweickart 3 0-0 7, Ragan 3 0-0 6, Team 22 9-15 56.

Three-Point Goals:

Belpre (4)- Spencer 1, T. Liston 1, D. Liston 2

N. Adams (3)- Copas 1, Osborne 1. Schweickart 1