East starts slow. That's become something we hear and say every season. They began the year 0-2, losing by 13 against St. Mary's and a 10-point loss to Maple Grove. Since, they've gone 7-2, with the two loses coming to Aquinas and McKinley. Last night, the Panthers trailed at halftime against Middle College and never led in the second half. But they kept hanging around, and as the game inched closer to the end, I began to sense they would wind up winning. East started slow and then did its East thing.
The Panthers trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half, but came back to tie the game, force overtime, and dominate the extra session, defeating Middle College 61-52. With the win, East remains just one game behind McKinley in the race for the Yale Cup.
The Kats opened the second half on a 11-3 run to extend to their largest lead, 36-25. East trimmed the Kats lead to six points before the quarter ended and with five minutes remaining in the game, Middle College was still in front by five. A 9-3 run over the next three minutes by the Panthers tied the game at 50 apiece. Over the final 2:24, neither team could muster up so much as a free throw, and it was on to OT.
Percy Bryant score the first bucket of overtime for East and after Johnathan Lewis got a circus shot to fall moments later, it became clear that the Kats had used up all nine lives already. The Panthers outscored Middle College, 11-2 over the extra four minutes.
I won't try to sell you on it being the prettiest game, and the large court at ECC really seemed to magnify a lot of that. But it was competitive and intense, and there were plenty of exciting moments. Middle College got a serious slam from Bri'an Brown in a half court set for its only overtime points and Keir Anderson showed off his skills multiple times dribbling around defenders and finishing near the basket. Anderson also swatted a shot, reminiscent of the type of blocks East's Tyree Tyson often provides, to fire up the crowd. Bryant also displayed an "And 1" type handle and a smooth touch from downtown. The game's top highlight may have come on a play that was whistled as a foul, when Tyson appeared to cleanly reject an attempted dunk from Brown in the game's early going.
Lewis finished with 22 points and six steals, Bryant scored 21 points with five boards and four assists, and Shawn Johnson added 17 points for East.
The Kats got 18 points from Anderson, while Brown and Kevin Briggs each netted 12 points.
-centercourt
@centercourt42
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