Trailing by eight points with 6:05 left to go in the fourth quarter, one would think it would be easy for the Chapmanville Regional Tigers to simply mail it in and look ahead to next week’s slate of games.
Instead, the Tigers did what they couldn’t do a night earlier, going on a 16-8 run to force overtime to defeat the Grafton Bearcats 64-62 Saturday evening in the Country Roads Showcase at Danny Godby Gymnasium.
Chapmanville trailed Grafton, 45-37, after Ryan Maier’s layup with 6:05 left to play in the fourth quarter, but it was a late sequence in the fourth quarter that sparked the Tigers and gave them their first lead since it was 24-22 with 1:05 remaining in the first half.
Trailing by seven with 4:20 to play, Grafton’s Kaden Delaney picked up his fourth foul and appeared to say something to an official drawing a technical foul and his fifth foul of the contest with Grafton leading 48-41.
Isaiah Smith knocked down both free throws to trim the deficit to 48-43 and following a Grafton turnover, Smith knocked down a 3 with 3:42 remaining bringing the Tigers to within two, 48-46.
Maier hit a basket to put Grafton up 50-46 with 1:41 to play, but Chapmanville answered with five straight points. First Colton Craddock hit a layup with 2:22 to play and following a Grafton turnover, Brody Dalton hit a 3 to give Chapmanville a 51-50 lead with 1:41 to play.
Grafton got free throws from Maier and JT Veltri to regain the lead at 52-51 with 1:28 to play, but once again Craddock answered with a layup to put the Tigers back on top 53-52 with 1:05 remaining.
Following another Grafton turnover, Zion Blevins was fouled and failed to convert on the front end of an one-and-one opportunity with 0:18 remaining.
Maier had two opportunities to put the Bearcats on top, but twice his shot was blocked. First by Blevins and the second by Dalton.
Maier would get a third opportunity to put the Bearcats ahead but his 3 from the left corner was short and rebounded by Grafton’s Justin Spiker, who was fouled on his field goal attempt with 0:02.1 remaining.
Spiker missed the first free throw but connected on the second free throw to tie the contest at 53-53 and send the game into overtime after Smith’s halfcourt heave was off the mark.
In the extra frame, the two teams traded baskets before Chapmanville answered with a 6-0 run to take a 63-57 lead after a basket from Blevins with 0:42 remaining in overtime.
Grafton would draw to two, 64-62, on Maier’s 3 with 0:12 remaining.
Chapmanville inbounded the ball and could have ran out the clock, but Sam Leslie broke free for what appeared to be a game-clinching basket, however Leslie’s layup attempt bounced off the rim and into the hands of Grafton’s Veltri.
Veltri quickly got the ball ahead to Jacob Maier, who raced to halfcourt but was unable to get off a clean look at a 3 as his attempt was off the backboard as time expired.
Ryan Maier led Grafton with 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting from the field. Spiker added 12 points and Delaney 10 for the Bearcats.
Chapmanville trailed Grafton 12-7 after a pair of Maier free throws with 2:29 to play in the first quarter before closing the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 15-12 after one quarter of play.
A pair of Dalton free throws gave Chapmanville its largest lead of the first half, 22-16, with 2:59 remaining until halftime.
Grafton closed the first half on a 10-2 run to take a 26-24 lead at halftime. The Bearcats extended their lead to 38-30 with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter and led 40-35 after three quarters of play.
Blevins led Chapmanville with 21 points while Dalton posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four assists, four blocks and four steals. Isaac Butcher came off the bench to score 10 points for the Tigers.
Grafton was 24-of-65 from the field while Chapmanville was 26-of-65. Neither team shot well from 3 as the Bearcats were 4-of-14 and the Tigers 4-of-19 from 3. Grafton was 10-of-14 from the free-throw line and Chapmanville 8-of-12.
Grafton falls to 8-3 and will host Class AAA No. 3 Fairmont Senior on Wednesday. Chapmanville improves to 7-6 and will travel to Class AA No. 1 Poca on Tuesday.
Chapmanville 64, Grafton 62 (Overtime)
Grafton Bearcats (8-3)
Ryan Maier 12-24 5-6 32, Justin Spiker 5-13 1-2 12, Kaden Delaney 4-5 2-2 10, JT Veltri 3-8 2-4 8, Tanner Moats 0-5 0-0 0, Issac Lough 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-65 10-14 62.
Chapmanville Tigers (7-6)
Zion Blevins 9-15 3-6 21, Brody Dalton 7-19 2-2 17, Issac Butcher 5-7 0-0 10, Isaiah Smith 1-8 3-4 6, Colton Craddock 2-3 0-0 4, Sam Leslie 1-5 0-0 3, Devin Workman 1-4 0-0 3, Drew Berry 1-4 0-0 3. Totals: 26-65 8-12 64.
Grafton 12 14 14 13 9-62
Chapmanville 15 9 11 18 11-64
3-point field goals- Grafton 4-14 (Maier, R. 3-7, Spiker 1-5, Moats 0-1, Lough 0-1). Chapmanville 4-19 (Blevins 0-1, Dalton 1-2, Smith 1-6, Leslie 1-2, Workman 1-4, Berry 0-4.) Rebounds- Grafton 34 (Veltri 13), Chapmanville 33 (Dalton 12). Assists- Grafton 10 (Moats 3), Chapmanville 12 (Dalton 4, Smith 4). Total fouls- Grafton 17, Chapmanville 16. Fouled out- Craddock, Delaney. Technicals- Delaney.