Sports - February 2003

West boys beat Bandys in OT, girls fall

TERRANCE THOMAS, LTN Staff Writer

February 5, 2003 - VALE — The West Lincoln boys basketball team allowed Bandys to score 20 straight points in the Tuesday night.

But the Rebels hung on.

Center Ty Curtis playing with four fouls, grabbed a rebound after a missed shot and put it back in with 22 seconds left in overtime to beat Bandys, 74-73.

The struggling Lady Rebels never led while falling 52-36 to the Lady Trojans.

Back to the boys game, guard Zach Franklin was honored before the game. Friday, in a game against Lincolnton, he scored his 1,000th point.

In Tuesday’s match, Franklin got a big jump on getting to 1,100.

He poured in a team-high 25 points — 16 by midway in the third quarter — to lead West to a huge 56-37 lead.

West had an inside advantage early in the game. But that disappeared when Curtis sat down after picking up his fourth and when Jonathan Phelps, who had a solid offensive game, quickly fouled out in early fourth quarter.

That’s when Bandys stormed back like a Texas twister, thanks to the leadership of Justin Harper who scored 14 points in that run, including a four-point play.

Harper, however, fouled out midway in the fourth quarter. That ended his spectacular night. He finished with a game-high 36 points.

With Harper out, it was an even game.

The lead exchanged hands the rest of the way.

With the score tied at 67, Bandys missed a shot with time running out in regulation.

In overtime, both teams controlled the lead at one point or another. Bandys hit a shot with 51 seconds left to go up 73-72.

West’s Juan Troya went to the free throw line with 24 seconds left.

He missed both shots but got the ball back and was short on a jumper.

Curtis was underneath the rim. He made the winning play.

From there West held on to win.

“I feel bad with how they came back like that,” Curtis said. “It feels good to get a win. No matter how it comes.”

Coach Jason Kingery agreed.

“We finally got a break,” he said after his team lost close games against league leaders Newton-Conover and Lincolnton last week. “The past two games we played hard and got beat. We played hard in the first half of this game. A win is a win. I’m happy for the kids.”

Curtis had 13 points while Phelps and Cody Branton had 12 and 11, respectively.

The Lady Rebels continued to have problems scoring points and stopping their opponents from scoring points.

“Too many turnovers, too many missed shots,” said West coach Allen Hoyle. “We played hard, but we were slow getting back on defense. Somewhere in the third quarter, we made five turnovers in 30 to 40 seconds.”

It was in that third quarter where Bandys pulled away.

West trailed 12-4 at the end of the first quarter and 20-9 at the half. The Lady Rebels were still in the game.

But in the third quarter, Bandys broke it open by scoring several times on fast break layups.

The Lady Trojans outscored West 23-8 in that third quarter to make it 43-17.

The rest of the way, some starters, backups and third-team players shuffled in and out and time ran out.

West did its best then. It won the fourth quarter 21-9, but by then the game was over.

Lily Tallent was the only Lady Rebel in double figures with 18.

West will host Chase tonight.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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