In a contest between two SWCL foes, the Clever Blue Jays narrowly defeated the Forsyth Panthers, 51-50, on Tuesday night. The game was hotly contested, with neither side ever leading by more than six points. With the game tied and the lead exchanged several times, the game came down to a last second shot.
Forsyth held a narrow 21-17 lead after the first quarter, with both teams shooting the ball well. Clever forced Forsyth’s Risten Grady into foul trouble, causing him to spend most of the game on the bench.
“Grady in foul trouble was a huge factor tonight,” said Forsyth coach Josh Hart. “He sat on the bench more than he played and he’s our leading rebounder, our third leading scorer. Clever rightfully took advantage of that tonight. We could complain about a couple cheap ones, but if he wouldn’t have gotten a couple early trying to lean in and block shots, he’d still have been on the floor and we’d have been alright.”
Clever tied the game at 32 going into the break. Clever’s Jakob Partee had 13 of his game-high 22 points in the first half.
“We expected a tough game coming into their place,” said Partee. “We knew it was going to be a tough battle against a conference opponent. They brought us their best last year so we knew what to expect. We somehow found the way to pull it out tonight.”
Forsyth ran an effective zone defense most of the night, causing Clever to shoot outside but Clever dominated the offensive rebounds.
“That’s something we stressed before the game,” said Clever coach Lucas Brosius. “We felt like, the last two games, we didn’t do a great job crashing the boards. I told our kids that I had a goal of us getting 12 offensive boards tonight. I think we got about 14-15.”
Going into the fourth quarter, the score was tied at 45. Clever then took the air out of the ball. Partee made an early three and Clever managed just one more bucket but still held on for the win. Forsyth could not take advantage of three missed free throws by Clever. At the 3:51 mark, Forsyth lost their inside presence when Grady fouled out of the game.
Clever then held the ball, forcing Forsyth to come out and play them man to man. Forsyth’s Trey Henson would steal the ball but then the Panthers turned the ball right back over. With 1:49 left in the game, Forsyth’s Jett Schanda made one of two free throws to put his team within one, 51-50. There would be no more scoring for the remainder of the game. Clever’s Dawson Little went to the line with less than a minute to go and missed the front end of a 1-1. Forsyth quickly transitioned down the floor but Cade Coleman was called for an offensive foul, causing the home crowd to erupt.
The Panthers were forced to foul and with :18 on the clock, the Jays’ Derek Sopok missed the front end of another 1-1. Forsyth got off a shot to win the game, it rimmed out, they got the offensive rebound, missed the shot, and came down with the buzzer sounding. The officials huddled and determined that there was .05 seconds remaining in the game and it was Forsyth’s ball. Forsyth inbounded the ball but did not get off a shot.
“It’s one of those that you walk into the locker room and you can’t be mad at the kids,” said Forsyth coach Josh Hart. “We’ve had some ups and downs and back and forths so we just said we are going to have a season changing start, as of yesterday. We got after it tonight. We had our chance at the end, missed a shot, then had a second chance at the end and ended up throwing it away. That’s a one point loss and you look at free throws, you look at unforced turnovers, you look at rebounds. We’re going to come back in tomorrow, we’re going to go to work, and we’re going to get things right.”
“I expected a tough one, it’s a conference game,” said Brosius. “We’ve had a great year and I told our kids that every game we are on the road, especially in conference, we are going to get everybody’s best. I knew it would be a tough environment. Forsyth did a really good job and we didn’t attack their zone as well as we would have liked. I thought we did a pretty good job of being patient and made them come out and guard us. It almost burnt us. Coach Hart does a great job and his kids play hard. It was tough but I was proud of my kids for making the plays that we needed to pull off the win.”
Clever 17 15 13 6 -51
Forsyth 21 11 13 5 -50
Clever—Jakob Partee-22, Jakob Albright-8, Dawson Little-8, Jared Sopok-7, Devan Hampton-4, Derek Sopok-2
Forsyth—Jett Schanda-14, Cade Coleman-13, Bryce Mann-10, Micaiah Rocha-7, Austin Padgett-4, Trey Henson-2
