Kyler D’Augustino leads Alexander Spartans to overtime victory in Jackson
By: Cameron Young, Shane Scalfaro
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JACKSON, Ohio (WOUB) – It took extra basketball to decide a hard fought matchup between the Alexander Spartans and the Jackson Ironmen on Tuesday night. The two teams traded blows for four quarters, but it ended up being the Spartans who were able to pull away in overtime by a score of 56-48.
This game was back and forth from tipoff between the two teams. In the first quarter, Kyler D’Augustino got off to a red-hot start for the Spartans, scoring 15 of Alexander’s 17 points in the quarter. Despite an outstanding performance from D’Augustino in the first, the Spartans found themselves trailing by just one headed into the second.
Early in the second quarter, the Ironmen got off to a hot start, giving themselves a multiple possession lead thanks to efficient shooting from Nate Woodard and Holden Blankenship. This would not last for long however as a vicious transition dunk from Braydin McKee fueled the Spartans to roar back and make this game a tie at 25-a-piece headed into the second half.
Neither team budged in either the third or fourth quarter. This was a low scoring half as shooting wasn’t steller for either team – in addition to limited possessions caused by multiple long Alexander possessions down the stretch. The Spartans controlled the ball for the majority of the fourth quarter and kept it out of the Ironmen shooters hands. At the end of regulation, it was all tied up at 44 each.
From here, it was Alexander who ran the show in overtime. D’Augustino proved why he was the best player on the floor in the last four minutes of play, displaying excellent playmaking to put the Spartans ahead late. After Jackson was forced to foul, Alexander was able to close it out thanks to D’Augustino hitting five of six from the free-throw line.
Head coach Jeff Skinner was pleased with his team’s gritty defensive effort in Tuesday night’s victory. He credited much of their offensive success late to the confidence created from getting defensive stops.
“We’ve gotta help ourselves by getting stops and rebounds. When you have a little bit of grit on the defensive end, it sometimes carries over to the offensive end in the form of confidence.”
Alexander hopes to build off of their confidence from this win as they head into a big TVC-Ohio matchup against their arch rival Athens Bulldogs on Friday night. A win in Athens would boost the Spartans’ overall record to .500 and put them in position to have a commanding conference lead over the rest of the conference.