Thursday evening saw a couple firsts for Cornerstone Christian School Falcons JV basketball team - a team comprised of Cornerstone and Riverview Collegiate students.
It was the first third overtime match-up the team has been part of.
The second first was it was the Falcons first victory of the season as they defeated the visiting Central Cyclones 62 - 59 in a junior girls - junior varsity basketball match-up.
And although they never said it, the victory for the Falcons could be summed up in one word - sweet.
The game saw the Cyclones take the early lead and up until about the midway point of the second quarter looked like they were headed to victory.
But then the Falcons strong play kicked in and the battle became increasingly more intense.
The end of the First Quarter saw the Cyclones ahead of the Falcons with a 11 - 7 lead.
The Falcons progressively got better in the Second Quarter.
Although outscored by the Cyclones in the second quarter of play, the Falcons managed to keep pace.
The score at the half was 24 Central and Cornerstone 17.
The Third Quarter saw the Falcons surge.
They were able to keep pace with the Cyclones and erased over half of the seven-point deficit at half-time.
The third quarter ended with a reduced Cyclones lead and a score of Cyclones 34 and Falcons 31.
The Fourth Quarter was a nail-biter seesaw battle as Cornerstone came from behind to take the lead 39 - 38 with 6:20 left in regulation time.
Central would fight back and retake the lead 40 - 39 with 4:00 remaining in regulation time.
With 2:35 left Cornerstone moved into a three-point lead.
With 55 seconds left in regulation time Central trailed by two points with a 47 - 45 score in Cornerstone's favour.
With 27 seconds left, Central would tie the game 47 - 47 sending it into a first five minute overtime period.
The first five minute overtime period would end tied 53 - 53.
The second overtime period had the Cyclones ahead 57 - 55 with 1:01 remaining.
After a timeout, the Falcons managed to tie the game sending it into a third overtime.
After a coaches’ discussion the decision was made to have a two-minute overtime.
With less than 30 seconds left Cornerstone would end up on the foul line where Ademide Adenumi would make both foul shots giving the Falcons a 61 - 59 lead.
A final trip to the foul line by Cornerstone's Jaria Seida-Rutheven would lead to a Falcon's 62 - 59 victory.
Top scorers
Cornerstone
Jorja Seida-Ruthven 15
Ademide Adewumi 14
Central
Brooklyn Watterson 18
Shaylan Constable 14
Coaches Comments
Despite his team's loss, Central Cyclones head coach Todd Johnson was philosophical and said he was happy with his team's play.
“This is what we need is close games like this. We need all of the situational plays so yeah it was a good game for us,” Johnson said. He said the game helped point out problems and would give the team things to work on.
“We have got to learn to play a little bit better defence and we don't foul. Yeah it was a good game and I am proud of the girls,” he said. “We had a little bit of adversity and we worked hard to come out of it.”
For Cornerstone Falcons head coach Al Block, winning the marathon match-up was special in two ways.
He has never been involved in such a lengthy game.
“This is the first time I have ever played triple overtime. It was super intense back and forth the whole night,” Block said.
“This is just a fantastic game. I am proud of the girls. It was great competition. For high school sports this is what it is all about.”
Fatigue and only having eight players factored heavily in such a long game.
Although the game was lengthy the Falcons winning it was extra special because it is the team's first win of the season.
