Straughter Beats Buzzer Give Walsh 62-61 Win Over Hillsdale
Hillsdale (17-5, 11-4) 39 22 61
Walsh (15-5, 10-4) 30 32 62
Pts: Nick Czarnowski - 12
Reb: Nick Czarnowski - 9
Ast: Nate Neveau - 7
Pts: Darryl Straughter - 19
Reb: Chandler Vaudrin - 13
Ast: Chandler Vaudrin - 4
(NORTH CANTON, Ohio) – The last 15 seconds of Thursday evening's 62-61 victory over Hillsdale are some that won't be forgotten in a long time by the Walsh faithful. After a buzzer-beater broke the hearts of the Cavaliers (15-5, 10-4) on Tuesday, they rebounded with a buzzer-beater of their own to down the Chargers (17-5, 11-4) to make Alumni Arena erupt.
After Hillsdale inbounded the ball with 30 seconds left, the Chargers' Nate Neveau eventually drove the lane and dished off to Gordon Behr who was wide-open on the left block. At the last second, however, Bo Furcron was able to leave his man and meet Behr in the air and blocked what would have been a game-icing layup.
Darryl Straughter was able to pull in the rebound and drive up the court with under 10 seconds remaining. After a quick dish off to Chandler Vaudrin to reset, Straughter launced a 3-pointer from the left wing and found nothing but net and a 1-point win.
It was a spectacular ending to one of his best games of the season. He finished the night with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-9 from the field. He was 4-of-5 behind the arc.
He was joined in double figures by Furcron with 14 points and Vaudrin who added yet another double-double with 13 points and rebounds.
Naturally in games like this, nothing came easy for the Cavaliers who were down by as many as 14 in the game. That occurred after Neveau scored on a layup to make the score 36-22 with 4:07 left in the first half and forced Walsh to call a timeout.
Coach Jeff Young's call to attempt to get his crew refocused worked out as Walsh came out and started a 19-3 run that stretched into the second half and gave the Maroon and Gold a 41-39 lead after a Furcron layup.
Hillsdale eventually regained the lead and held it for the majority of the second, half, but momentum was now on the side of the Cavaliers.
The win avenged an early season loss to the Chargers back in December. Walsh will have an opportunity to do the same on Saturday when it hosts No. 11 Findlay. Tip-off with the Oilers is set for 1 p.m.