Sports
Trimble Outlasts Belpre In Overtime Thriller
By: Austin Carpenter
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Tuesday night the Trimble Tomcats outlasted the Belpre Golden Eagles 74-68 in an overtime thriller. The boys of Glouster were looking to bounce back from a close loss against Nelsonville-York last Saturday.
Trimble came into this game posting a 4-3 record including 3-2 in the TVC. Belpre came in at 5-5 and 4-1 in the TVC.
Early on, you could not determine who would pull away in this game. The full court pressure for Trimble was fierce. Neither team lead by more than eight points the whole game and once a team tried to pull away, the other was right there to slow them down. After a back and forth first half, Trimble went into the locker room with a 32-27 lead.
Belpre came out in the second half with strong man-to-man defense and three-point shooting. After a couple fast break buckets and crucial three’s, the Golden Eagles tied the game up at 43 with 3:27 left in the third quarter. Trimble ended the quarter on an 8-7 run and a 51-50 lead.
The fourth quarter looked to be all Trimble in the early going. They started out on a 7-0 run and had Belpre flustered, but the Golden Eagles were able to bounce back and get some key baskets. Leading 65-63 with a minute left, senior guard Konner Standley turned the ball over and Belpre’s Deijon Bedgood was at the line with the chance to tie the game. After hitting both free throws, the game was tied at 65.
Trimble’s Jacob Koons drove to the basket and was fouled with 19 seconds remaining. At the line for a one-and-one, Koons missed the front end and Belpre got the rebound. After forcing another turnover, Trimble let the clock run out and took the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, it was all Trimble. They scored the first bucket and did not trail the rest of the overtime. Fast break was key for head coach Curt Moore’s squad in overtime as they outscored Belpre 9-3 in the extra period.
Micah Couch was the x-factor for the Tomcats. The big man inside finished with a game-high 28 points and 16 boards.
“We wanted to get our big guy going tonight,” said Moore. “He is a great free throw shooter so if he got fouled we know he would knock them down from the line.”
Belpre finished the game 8-for-28 from behind the arc.
“We knew they were a good three point shooting team,” said Moore. “They aren’t shy to shoot the ball and we just had to break down and contest them.”
Couch also had help from teammate Konner Standley. The point guard recorded his own double-double while collecting 12 points and 10 assists.
“We expect a lot out of our three-year starter, he lived up to our expectations tonight,” said Moore.
With Waterford (8-3, 7-1) traveling to Glouster on Friday, the Tomcats need to keep the pressure on.
“Our full court press is strong,” said Moore. “As long as we guard three-point line to three-point line, we will be fine.”