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St. Marys boys slip past Yellowjackets, 62-61

Williamstown’s Cullen Cutright tries to maintain possession with pressure from St. Marys players during a high school basketball game Saturday night in St. Marys. Photo by Ron Johnston.

ST. MARYS, W.Va. — Braden Barnhart came to the rescue.

The St. Marys point guard banked home a buzzer-beating shot from halfcourt to lift the Blue Devils (5-2) to a 62-61 overtime triumph over visiting Williamstown in Little Kanawha Conference boys’ basketball action Saturday night.

“I looked at the clock and I knew I had three seconds, so I knew had 1.5 to get to halfcourt,” Barnhart said. “I got there, and I just threw it up — and got lucky.”

Sam Kincaid scored a game-high 24 points to pace the Blue Devils, while Will Billeter added 16 and Christopher Riggs had 10. Barnhart finished with eight.

“Braden’s no relation, but I guess tonight I’d better claim him,” said SMHS head coach Mark Barnhart, whose Devils defeated the Yellowjackets earlier in the season at WHS, 68-62, also in OT. “To Braden’s credit, he didn’t give up. There were only three seconds, and we sent Sam (Kincaid) and Will (Billeter) long, and everybody went with them.

“When Braden got to halfcourt, he knew there was no further that he could go. I just take my hat off to my guys.”

Noah Van Zile only scored two points, but his role was primarily defensive as he had the unenviable task of guarding Williamstown’s high-scoring Isaac Brown.

The Yellowjackets (7-3) were led by Brown’s 22 points. Late in the second quarter, the senior standout eclipsed the 1,000-point career total with a triple, cutting the SM lead to three, 23-20.

“It’s a good feeling,” said Brown of the career milestone. “But I hate to see a game end like that.

“St. Marys played a heckuva game, outplayed us, and hit a buzzer-beater.”

Josh Folwell added a double-double with16 points and 10 rebounds for the Jackets. Non-starter Boston Caruthers netted 13 markers.

“We had every opportunity to win again,” said WHS boss Scott Sauro. “Credit St. Marys, they made a great shot.

During first-quarter action, Billeter and Kincaid each had six points to help St. Marys stake itself to a 16-10 advantage.

In the second period, Kincaid added eight more points as the Blue Devils maintained a six-point lead, 30-24, at halftime. Keeping the Yellowjackets in the hunt, Folwell tallied seven markers in the stanza.

Williamstown drained five triples in the third quarter to reduce the SM advantage to five, 43-38. Brown and Caruthers each had two threes and Folwell one.

Early in the fourth quarter, Caruthers’ trifecta and Folwell’s putback made it 45-43.

At the 5:02 mark, Caruthers knocked down another three to tie the game at 47-all. After the Devils called a timeout, Brown hit a foul-line jumper to give the Yellowjackets their first lead the first quarter.

“Boston Caruthers did a fantastic job,” Brown said. “He hit some really big shots for us.”

But Billeter’s triple near the three-minute mark put St. Marys back on top, 50-49. Then it went back and forth for the next couple of minutes until Brown’s steal and layup tied the score at 53-53 at the 1:23 mark.

In overtime, Caruthers made his fourth three of the contest to give WHS a three-point advantage.

Brown and Folwell each converted two freebies with under a minute to play to give the Jackets a six-point cushion, 60-54.

With time winding down, a bucket by Billeter and a long three by Kincaid cut it to one, 60-59.

The Blue Devils then fouled Williamstown’s Donathan Taylor, who converted one of two at the line with three tics left on the clock.

Shortly after Barnhart received the inbounds pass, he launched a desperation shot — and the ball hit the glass and went into the basket.

“I definitely practiced that last year in gym class,” said Barnhart, smiling. “Williamstown played hard. We had the lead for the whole game basically. I give them credit. They never backed down.”

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