NTL BOYS BASKETBALL: DOMINICK'S TIP-IN AT BUZZER, LIFTS NP-MANSFIELD TO 64-62 OVERTIME WIN OVER TOWANDA (2022-01-14)

By CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier West Sports Report
TOWANDA — Coming in NP-Mansfield had lost two of its last three games after starting the season 6-0. If the Tigers wanted to keep their hopes of an NTL Large School title alive, they’d have win at Towanda on Friday, but were facing a spirited Towanda squad that took an 8-point lead early in the fourth quarter. However, Karson Dominick wasn’t about to let them lose another one.

Dominick tapped in a putback with 16 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, then hit a runner with six seconds on the clock in OT to edge the Knights, 64-62.

“It feels good to get back in the groove, and win that game,” Dominick said. “We were planning to get under 10 seconds, set a screen, then just one-on-one, and get to the basket.”

Dominick finished with 31 points, 12 of them in the fourth quarter, and 20 of them in the second half as a whole. Though the Tigers led at the half, Towanda missed a large proportion of their shots at the rim, once they started hitting those, and taking a lead, it forced NPM into do or die mode.

“We talked about (at halftime) we need to get started out with energy,” explained Dominick. “I kind of got mad, and just drove to the basket. We need energy somehow, so I just drove.”

Their aggressiveness was rewarded with 25 free throws, making 16 of them.

Brody Burleigh had 11 points for the Tigers, with Alex Davis scoring nine. Sam Lawrence netted eight, and Eli Shaw came away with five.

Dante Ottaviani led three Knights in double-figures with 17 points, while Teagan Irish, and Justin Schoonover had 12 points a piece. Grady Flynn netted nine, Elias Shrawder scored eight, and Mason Hartmann rounded things out with four.

It was a slow start for both teams, with NPM leading just 7-2 halfway through the first quarter, behind five points from Burleigh.

Three straight Towanda buckets, ending with a 3-ball from Flynn, saw the Knights take a 9-7 lead with 1:35 left in the opening quarter.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Lawrence and Dominick put NPM back on top 13-9 at the first horn.

It was back-and-forth to start the second, as Schoonover opened it with a lay-up. Dominick answered with an old fashion 3-point play, but Irish came with a lay-up to cut it to 16-13.

After Davis went 1-of-2 from the line the Knights went on a 5-0 run, behind buckets from Schoonover, and Ottaviani, plus a free throw from Shrawder, to give them an 18-17 lead with 3:34 left in the half.

Dominick tied it up with a free throw of his own, but Schoonover came back with a put back to keep Towanda up.

However, Towanda didn’t score in the final three minutes, allowing the Tigers to go on a 3-0 run to end the half with a 21-20 lead. It was a Dominick lay-up that gave them the 1-point advantage.

Dominick opened up the third quarter with a bucket, but after that it was all Towanda, as they went on a 12-4 after that to open up 32-27 lead by the five minute mark.

Back-to-back lay-ups followed by a 3-ball from Ottaviani put them up 27-23. The Tigers held serve as they got two baskets around an Irish lay-up to cut it to 29-27, but another Ottaviani 3-ball saw the Knights open up a 5-point lead.

The two teams traded baskets after that, with a Davis long ball cutting it to 34-32 with just over three minutes left in the quarter.

Irish, though, responded with a lay-up, followed by a Flynn 3-pointer saw Towanda open their biggest lead yet, 39-32, with two minutes to play in the frame.

Two straight baskets from NPM - one by Burleigh, the other from Dominick - saw the Tigers cut it to 39-36. Ottaviani then ended the scoring by going 1-of-2 from the line to make it a 40-36 Towanda lead with eight minutes left in regulation.

Ottaviani opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, but NPM would cut it to 43-39. That’s when the Knights opened their greatest lead of the game, beginning with a Hartmann lay-up, then followed by two free throws from Schoonover, to put them up 47-39 with 6:14 left to play.

That’s when Dominick shifted it into high gear, scoring seven straight points in less than a minute - a 3-ball, a lay-up, and a runner - to cut it to 47-46.

Flynn would answer with his third 3-ball of the game, but a Dominick And-1, followed by a Lawrence jumper saw the Tigers take a 51-50 lead with 3:55 left to play.

Schoonover answered with a jumper, then Davis went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to knot things up at 52-all.

Towanda took a brief lead off an Irish lay-up, but a free throw and a Davis bucket put the Tigers up 55-54 with 2:12 left in the game.

After a few empty possessions Shrawder appeared to hit the shot of the night, a contested corner 3-pointer in front of his bench, to make it 57-55 with 33 seconds to play.

However, Dominick wasn’t to be out done, getting a put back to send the game into overtime.

In the extra frame it was a free throw battle early on, with NPM taking a 60-59 lead off three freebies to Towanda’s two.

Then, with 3:04 left, Ottaviani hit a runner and got fouled. He made the free throw to put Towanda up 62-60.

The teams traded empty possessions until Shaw tied the game up for NPM with two free throws at the 1:09 mark.

Towanda would turn it over on their next possession, affectively allowing the Tigers to run out the clock. After an NPM timeout, they burned some time, then let Dominick go to work.

He got to the center of the court, pulled off a spin move into the paint, and rose up for the runner, which was nothing but net, with six seconds to spare.

The Knights did a good job getting the ball up court, but Ottaviani’s 3-ball was just off the mark, giving NPM the 64-62 win.

NP-Mansfield knows this is just one of many tough games ahead of them, as their next league game is Troy, at home, on Wednesday.