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Late-game magic lifts Belpre past Waterford

Belpre’s Malik Currie, left, and AJ Copen celebrate after the Golden Eagles’ 52-50 win over Waterford Friday at Joe Garrett Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

BELPRE — A freshman and a sophomore combined to deliver in crunch time to give Belpre a thrilling, much-needed victory Friday night at Joe Garrett Court.

In the final six seconds, freshman AJ Copen knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer and sophomore Malik Currie had a tip-in at the buzzer to give the Golden Eagles a 52-50 win over Waterford.

Trailing 50-47, Belpre head coach Ryan Leasure called a timeout with 8.9 seconds to go. Chris Copen inbounded the ball to his little brother, AJ, in the corner. The younger Copen had a hand in his face, but pulled the trigger and buried the 3-ball to knot it up at 50-all.

The Golden Eagles, who snapped a six-game losing skid, pressured the inbound pass and forced Waterford into a traveling violation with 2.9 seconds on the clock.

After another timeout, Chris Copen got the ball and put up a mid-range jumper. The shot was off the mark, but Currie swooped in and put it back up. The ball went through the hoop as the buzzer sounded to get Belpre back in the win column.

Belpre’s Nasaih Spencer (3) guards Waterford’s Finn Pennock during Friday’s game at Joe Garrett Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

“As soon as I seen him take that shot, I was confident,” said Currie, who finished with six points, three assists and three steals. “I was like, ‘We need to crash the board no matter what.’ As soon as I had the ball in my hands and the buzzer didn’t go off yet, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna put this up.’ I’m just lucky that it went in. We lost six in a row and all of us had that fire in us that we wanted to win. We made sure that happened tonight.”

The Belpre student section rushed the floor to celebrate.

“That was awesome to see,” said Belpre head coach Ryan Leasure. “These kids deserve it. They’ve been playing a tough, tough schedule. They’re practicing hard, playing hard, giving up their Christmas break, going after it. To see those guys rush the court and celebrate was really fun.”

It was a mixture of excitement and relief for the Belpre players, who have been through a gauntlet of a schedule so far, including losses to bigger schools like Marietta, Warren and Meigs.

“We needed it,” Leasure said. “It was a huge win for us. When you lose six in a row, trying to get back in the win column is very difficult. We really played well in the second and third quarter, but the fourth quarter we just fell apart. Luckily we just had a little bit of energy and a little bit of magic left to figure out a way to win.”

Waterford’s Gavin Hiener (12) contests a shot by Belpre’s AJ Copen (23) during Friday’s game at Joe Garrett Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

AJ Copen led all scorers with 24 points. He made six 3-pointers on nine attempts — none bigger than the last one.

“I’ve been having a couple bad games, so I’ve been in the lab trying to get my shot back,” Copen said. “I just got hot and they kept feeding me the ball, so I just kept shooting it.”

Of the game-tying shot, Copen said “There wasn’t really anybody to swing it to, and I was hot, so might as well put it up.”

As great as the finish was for Belpre, things couldn’t have started much worse.

The Wildcats (3-7) held the Golden Eagles to just one field goal in the first quarter to take a 14-3 lead. Belpre caught fire in the second quarter, tying it at 19-all on Carson Moore’s 3-pointer. Another triple by Moore capped a 14-0 run to end the half as Belpre led 25-19 at intermission.

Belpre (5-6) extended its lead to 40-28 by the end of the third and had complete control of the game.

However, Waterford opened the final period on a tear, using a 16-2 run to get back in it. A 3-pointer by Cole Sparling-Ponchak put Waterford up 44-42 with 2:38 remaining.

Down two with 38 seconds left, Currie drove to the basket, but Tyson Franchino came up with a steal and dished to Reese Lang, who was fouled and cashed in both free throws to make it a four-point game with 28 ticks left.

AJ Copen answered with a 3-pointer to get Belpre within one, 48-47. Sparling-Ponchak knocked down two clutch foul shots on the other end, but the Golden Eagles came up with some end-of-the-game heroics.

“Waterford played extremely hard and extremely well,” Leasure said. “They rebounded well, they shot it well. We just happened to get the stops that we needed when we needed it. AJ made a big bucket there late and Malik’s tip-in — it’s big for a freshman and sophomore to step up in late crunch time. Big win for us. Back in the win column and I’m super happy about it.”

Sparling-Ponchak double-doubled for the Wildcats, scoring 18 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and tallying three assists, three steals and two blocks. Lang and Gavin Hiener scored 13 points apiece, with Hiener pulling down seven boards. Franchino finished with four dimes and three steals.

AJ Copen was Belpre’s only double-digit scorer. Chris Copen and Nasaih Spencer, two of the Golden Eagles’ typical go-to scorers, combined for just six points.

“We’ve been struggling offensively,” Leasure said. “Chris and Nasaih had a rough game, offensively, but they kind of carry us defensively and with energy. They do things that don’t show up in the scorebook.”

Chris Copen led the team with eight rebounds to go along with three assists while Spencer had three dimes and three steals. Moore finished with eight points and four rebounds off the bench.

Though things looked bleak during Belpre’s losing streak, none of those six games were against TVC Hocking opponents. In fact, with Friday’s win the Golden Eagles are now 4-0 in league play and in a good position to defend the conference title.

“We didn’t play extremely well tonight, but hopefully moving forward we can get a little more confidence and see if we can run down this TVC championship,” Leasure said.

AJ Copen added, “We’re always in the game no matter what. Never count us out.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.

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