Boys take league leader Talawanda to OT; fall short on last second shot

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TALAWANDA 62, EDGEWOOD 59

Wallace, Braves celebrate repeat

By Rick Cassano

Staff Writer

Saturday, February 07, 2009

TRENTON - Talawanda High School junior guard Daryl Wallace saw the ball. Then he saw the basket.

The rest was just championship glory.

Wallace grabbed an outlet pass from teammate Drew Ritcher and drove to the basket for a conventional three-point play with 0.6 seconds left in overtime Friday night, Feb. 6, giving the Braves their second straight Fort Ancient Valley Conference Scarlet Division title with a heart-pounding 62-59 road triumph over rival Edgewood.

"I wanted the ball coming to me," Wallace said. "And I was not going to miss."

He converted the layup and was fouled. Wallace then sank the free throw, and teammate Josh Claytor stole an in-bounds pass near midcourt to seal the win and extend Talawanda's Scarlet winning streak to 20.

Claytor had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Braves, who are 11-4 overall and 8-0 in the league. Wallace fired in 22 points, with seven coming in the extra stanza, and Taylor Bucher added 10.

"I'm so proud of our guys," Talawanda coach Michael DeCello said. "The last time we lost a league game was here two years ago. We remember when they cut down the nets. I told our guys to remember what that felt like, and we haven't lost since."

Said Ritcher, "Winning the league again is such a huge deal. It makes all the hard work we put in worth it. We're just a family that really wanted it."

It was physical, blood-and-guts basketball, and the EHS gym was packed and rocking all night. DeCello was particularly emotional - his brother, Marc, is battling cancer and got to go home Friday after a third round of chemotherapy.

"This whole season has been a roller coaster for me," DeCello said. "This means a lot."

Xavier Fugate came up huge once again for the Cougars (10-5, 5-3), roaring to 33 points and 11 rebounds. He had all six points in overtime for Edgewood, which stormed to a 20-7 lead in the first quarter.

Josh Mueller scored 14 points and Brennan Kelly chipped in nine for the hosts. Brian Weber hauled in nine boards.

"These kids played their hearts out - they take pride in what they do," Cougars coach John Thomas said. "We did not play well against Talawanda the first time out this year, but I thought we played real hard tonight. Somebody's got to lose. Tonight it was us."

The game-winning sequence was frantic effort on both sides. Ritcher rebounded a 3-point misfire as the closing seconds ticked away.

"I looked up and saw we had five seconds left," Ritcher said. "I saw Daryl, and I just heaved it. The last five seconds felt like forever. Words can't describe it."

Wallace's reaction to his game-winning play?

"Oh my God ... it's like your 18th birthday when you go out on your own," he said. "It felt great. I loved it."