Vinton County Dominates Athens Bulldogs in OT
By: Reagan McCurley
Posted on:
Athens’ nine-game winning streak came to an end Friday when the Vinton County Vikings took on the Bulldogs at Logan High school.
The rival teams met for the third time this season in what turned out to be an exciting overtime thriller. Their two other regular season matches ended with each taking home a win.
First Half
In this weekend’s playoff game, it came down to the last heated four minutes in overtime that decided which team would advance..
In the first half, the Vikings were up by only five points, ending the half 28-23.
Eli Chubb was leading the Bulldogs with seven points and three boards.
Naylan Yates scored 10 points in under six minutes for the Vikings.
As the third quarter came to an end, Vinton County was leading by eight points, 46-38.
Electrifying Comeback
Despite the deficit, the Bulldogs would come back with only 16 second left before the buzzer tying the game at 58-58, and sending the game into overtime.
Vikings Take The Win
The Vikings Jake Speakman took the game into his own hands scoring eight of the 11 points in overtime, finishing the game 69-60 and bumping the Bulldogs out of the playoffs.
For Athens, Eli Chubb had a total of 12 points and six rebounds.
For the Vikings, Naylan Yates scored a whopping 24 points for the Vikings with Speakman right behind him with 22 points.
The key to the Vikings’ success, Speakman said, was having fun and starting fresh every game.
“Just enjoy it, even if we lose, we just have to get over it,” he said. “The next day we’ll come in and just get ready for whatever team we have next.”
Vinton County Head Coach Matt Combs said it was a tough game, and he congratulated Athens for fighting back and pushing the game into overtime.
“I thought we played a pretty good three quarters, felt like we were where we needed to be,” he said. “I have to give Athens credit; they’ve been playing well here the last few weeks and they weren’t going down without a fight.”
Vinton County will take on the Fairland Dragons on Thursday at the Ohio University Convocation Center.