Trinity Christian rolls to overtime win over Frazier
PERRYOPOLIS – Certain situations in sports can bring a team together to give one of its best efforts of the season. It can also cause teams to come out of the gate a little slower.
That scenario played out Tuesday night in thrilling Section 5-A game, where the Trinity Christian Falcons defeated the Frazier Commodores in overtime, 80-72.
The Falcons (8-13, 2-8) entered the game without head coach Linda Cutler, who lost her husband to cancer. The team went to the funeral earlier in the day.
Frazier (5-17, 2-8) also had to play after hearing some bad news, as the team found out just before the game that head coach P.J. Malloy would resign at the end of the season due to family obligations brought on by illness.
Trinity Christian rode the play of center Steven Abe through three quarters. Abe finished the night with a game high 26-points and also collected eight rebounds.
Frazier fell behind by as many as 15 points, before staging a furious fourth-quarter rally to send the game into overtime.
“I wanted to go to Abe early in the game to establish an inside game,” assistant coach Ben Carter said, subbing for Cutler. “He’s good with the ball and has a nice touch around the basket.”
Abe carried the Falcons through a slow first half, scoring six in the first quarter to help the Falcons take a 10-9 lead. He added six more in the second as Trinity Christian outscored Frazier 18-14 in the quarter to take a 28-23 lead at the half.
“We were a little sluggish in the first half. I have to take responsibility for that,” Frazier’s P.J. Malloy said. “We gave ourselves a chance in the second half, but we didn’t deserve to win tonight. They came to play and got the job done.”
In the third quarter, the Commodores continued to falter. Abe opened the scoring with a basket for Trinity, before Will Bronson scored for Frazier to make the score 30-25.
Trinity put together a 10-0 run to increase its lead to 40-25 before Riely Tidholm scored for the ‘Dores. Abe continued to wreak damage inside against Frazier, scoring 11-points in the quarter as Trinity Christian took a 49-37 lead after three.
Frazier outscored Trinity 29-17 in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime.
Ryan Keebler, led the comeback with 11-points in the quarter, including two free throws with four second left to send the game into overtime with scored tied at 66.
Tidholm contributed to the comeback with eight points, and T.J. Martinak added five in the quarter, along with several defensive stops.
“Going into the overtime period I told my players it’s a new four-minute game with no score,” Carter said. “You’ve got to come out aggressive and play strong. I let my guards take over. They’re probably the most mentally and physically toughest players I have. I put it in their hands.”
The guards are twin brothers David and Jon Mahtami. David had seven in the fourth quarter, and Jon hit for eight. In overtime Jon opened the scoring with a three-pointer to give the Falcons the lead for good.
Bronson was fouled and hit one of two from the line for the Commodores. Jeremy Tunney scored to increase Trinity’s lead to 71-67. Keebler gave the Commodores hope with a clutch three to make the score 71-70.
Abe came back with a basket to give the Falcons a 73-70 lead. Trinity scored their next four points from the charity stripe to increase their lead to 77-70. Bronson scored the Commodores final basket before Jon Mahtami forced Frazier to foul and scored his final three points from the line.
“We just were not mentally in the game tonight,” Malloy said. ” But I expect them to come back a give a better effort one Wednesday, when it’s Senior Night.”
Trinity placed three players in double figures behind Abe. Jon Mahtami hit for 23 points, while his brother David finished with 12. Trinity also got a strong game off the boards from Justin Hunt, who snatched 13 boards and blocked three shots.
Bronson led Frazier with 15 points, and Tidholm and Keebler scored 14 each. Tidholm also pulled down 13 rebounds.
Frazier will honor its seniors tonight against Carmichaels.