Wildcats get past Cougars

View larger image Devaunte French View larger image Matt Nicholson

By Robert Edmonds - sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Warren County capped a scrappy, gritty 60-59 overtime victory in thrilling fashion Friday night when they hosted Kettle Run in Evergreen District boys basketball action.

"We've lost a few games that we played pretty well in and it was nice to get a win in an ugly game like this," Wildcats coach Vernon Mathews said. "I give a lot of credit to their defense. They gave us fits on offense, but our kids battled and stepped up their play."

Despite trailing for most of the night, the Wildcats managed to stay in the game and force overtime after failing to win in regulation. Warren County trailed early in overtime, but continued to play aggressively and keep within striking distance of the Cougars.

With only 14 seconds left in overtime, the Wildcats took possession trailing by two points. Junior standout Matt Nicholson ran the offense into the frontcourt and looked to create a play as he drove to the basket. When Nicholson left his feet entering the lane, he was smothered by Cougars defenders -- leading to a heads-up play from the guard.

"We didn't really have an offense set up on that last play," Mathews said. "We wanted to push the ball down the floor and try to get a good shot. I didn't want to call a timeout to give them a chance to set up on defense."

Nicholson dumped the ball off to Sam Catalani, who sent a pass to a wide-open DeVaunte French in the left corner of the front court. French launched a shot that found nothing but net as time expired, giving the Wildcats the victory and igniting a loud roar from the Warren County fans who had been on the edge of their seats for much of the game.

"When I pulled the trigger, my mind went blank," French said. "When I let go, I knew it was going in and once the ball went through the net, I was on top of the world."

Kettle Run led 36-31 midway through the third period before a six-point run by Warren County that gave the Wildcats the lead for the first time since the opening basket of the game.

The Cougars quickly responded with a six-point stretch of their own to maintain the lead entering the final period.

With fouls to give, Warren County continued to play fiercely on defense and forced Kettle Run to take difficult shots and turn the ball over. Led by Dakota Pratscher on offense, Warren County tied the game at 45. Pratscher scored 14 of his 19 points during the second half, all the while with three fouls.

"Going into the third quarter, Dakota [Pratscher] was in foul trouble," Mathews said. "For him to be able to come out and play aggressively in the second half and score nearly 20 points for us tonight was huge."

Down by two points, Nathan Almarode recorded a steal and then hit two clutch free throws to tie the game at 48, setting up the Wildcats' magnificent finish.

"This was just an ugly back-and-forth game," Nicholson said. "That's how most of our district games are.

"We didn't really have an offense set up at the end. I tried to beat my guy off the dribble, but I couldn't see anything and that's when I passed it to Sam [Catalani]. It was a good game and it was nice to be able to pull it out at the end."