It didn’t go exactly the way Barry Yocum drew it up, but he’ll take it.
Tied with Marionville at 60 with 9.7 seconds remaining in overtime, Reeds Spring sophomore guard Lane Carroll found senior Jarod Cole for the game-winning lay-up, giving the Wolves a 62-60 win and the championship of the Spokane Invitational Tournament in overtime on Wednesday night at Spokane High School.
While the ball was designed to end up in the hands of Cole, who came in averaging a team-high 16 PPG, the end result was the product of great improvisation by Carroll.
“Adam (Taylor) was going to set a cross screen and I was going to come off of it and try to make a play,” said Cole. “They jumped it, but Lane made an amazing play, penetrated and threaded the needle with a perfect pass.”
Cole scored all five of Reeds Spring’s points in the overtime period, answering Marionville (12-7) senior Tanner Wright’s 3-pointer to start the session with a three of his own.
Those were the only three field goals of the four-minute overtime.
At the end of regulation junior Joel Gertson hit a 3 to put Reeds Spring up 57-54 with 84 seconds left, only to have Marionville junior Levi Doyle tie it back up with his only basket of the game.
Despite the wild ending, the game seemed destined to be a blowout in the first half.
Reeds Spring (13-6) grabbed an early 7-4 lead, only to see Marionville counter with a 9-0 run to end the quarter.
Strong finishes were a theme of the first half.
The Wolves cut the deficit to just four, 23-19, late in the second, but a 7-1 spurt gave the Comets a 30-20 lead at the break, their largest of the game. Seven different Marionville players scored in the first 16 minutes.
“We pride ourselves on guarding the basketball and in the first half we didn’t guard the ball very well,” said Yocum. “They thrive on dribble penetration and if you’re helping they’re going to find guys and hit shots. We just didn’t guard very well and their zone gave us some fits.”
Cole, who was named the tournament MVP, went scoreless in the first quarter and finished the half with just three points, prompting Yocum to pull his senior and offer some words of encouragement.
“I needed it, I needed to be pulled aside,” said Cole. “He told me to calm down and that it’s a long game. I was upset; I wasn’t getting the looks I normally do… At halftime coach said we’re going to see what kind of team that we are; we can battle back or we can lay down and give up. I think we battled back.”
Behind eight third-quarter points from Carroll, Reeds Spring opened the second half with an 18-4 run, grabbing a 38-34 lead midway through the quarter. Adam Taylor’s tip-in just before the buzzer gave the Wolves a 44-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Taylor finished with a game-high 18 points. Cole finished with 16, 13 of which came after halftime. Marionville was paced by Lathan Kerans 15 points. Tanner Wright scored 14.
The title is Reeds Spring’s first tournament championship since winning it all in Spokane back in 2013. For a program that had long been considered the doormat of the COC Small, the Wolves continue to put the area on notice.
Not only is Reeds Spring riding a seven-game winning streak, its longest in the Yocum era, but the Wolves are one win away from securing their first .500 season since 2009-10 and two wins away from having more than any other Reeds Spring team has in the last decade.
“The culture is changing and a lot of that is a credit to the kids,” said Yocum. “The buy-in has been better than it has been in the past and it’s not been just a few guys, but several of them. It’s my job to lay out expectations and hold kids accountable but they’ve really bought-in to what we are doing. They understand that hard work is not a punishment but the price of admission.”
Reeds Spring 62, Marionville 60 F/OT
Reeds Spring 7-13-24-13-5 – 62
Marionville 13-17-13-14-3 – 60
Reeds Spring: Taylor 18, Cole 16, Gertson 15, Carroll 8, Bradfield 4, Randle 1.
Marionville: Kerans 15, Wright 14, LaSalle 10, Bateman 8, Brown 6, Doyle 3, Clevenger 2, Head 2.
