Boys Basketball: Black River can't outlast Oberlin loses in 2OT

OBERLIN — Playing without third-leading scorer Zane Bungard, the Black River boys basketball team's offense cooled off at the wrong time. Oberlin rallied from down 16 in the second half and, despite the Pirates forcing two overtimes, the Phoenix eventually pulled away for a 58-48 Lorain County League win. "I hit a big shot, but at the end it kind of sucks how I missed a game winner," said Black River senior Ridge Martin, who hit the game-tying shot with 53 seconds left in regulation. "I wish I could get that back, but we just kept working hard in overtime. "We have to stop giving up big runs and turning the ball over, and that's what we were doing in the third quarter. We started off hot but just made some dumb mistakes, and we have to stop doing that in the playoffs." Oberlin (3-19, 1-13) was playing to avoid finishing winless in the league, while Black River (2-20, 1-13) was hoping to avoid sharing last place. The Pirates beat Oberlin 70-55 in the first meeting behind 29 points from Bungard. It looked as if Black River was going to duplicate that result after the first half, leading 29-17 and dominating the Phoenix in the paint. Senior Evan Ladina had nine of his 11 points and was a big reason why the Pirates had 17 offensive rebounds to Oberlin's six. "We were not going to get outrebounded tonight," Black River coach Dennis English said. "We wanted to make them feel us on the boards. We utilized our bodies and boxed out, but the problem is as fatigue sets in some of those box outs turn into running toward the hoop. We lost a lot of 50-50 balls in the second half. When we get tired, we just don't do what we're supposed to do." The Pirates pushed their lead to 33-17 with 6:55 in the third, but the offense stalled for virtually the remainder of the half. Black River connected on just four field goals the rest of the way, including a drought of nearly seven minutes that spanned from the end of the third to the final two minutes of the fourth. During that time, Oberlin mounted a 22-4 run to take a 39-37 lead and eventually led 44-41 with 1:20 left. Martin drilled a three with 53 seconds left and both teams whiffed on possessions that would have ended the game in regulation. Oberlin again looked as if it was going to win in overtime, leading 48-45 with 18.5 seconds left. Two Martin threes didn't go, but sophomore Austin Pamer was there with the rebound and heaved a shot at the top of arc that swished through at the buzzer. It was his only field goal of the evening. Unfortunately for the Pirates, Oberlin scored 10 unanswered in the second overtime. "To be honest, the shot was pretty cool because that's never happened to me like that," Pamer said. "In the moment, I didn't realize we had too much time left. I heard someone say two when I had the ball, so I just looked up and shot it. "We've got to execute a lot better going into the playoffs." Contact Chris Sweeney at sports@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Oberlin 58, Black River 48 (2OT) BLACK RIVER&emsp;17 12 8 7 4 0 — 48 OBERLIN&emsp;7 10 17 10 4 10 — 58 Black River — Johnny Kray 2-6-11, Blake Hopkins 3-1-7, Layne Lawhon 0-0-0, Ridge Martin 6-1-16, Evan Ladina 5-1-11, Austin Pamer 1-0-3, Kage Petruzzi 0-0-0, Jonathan McKean 0-0-0. TOTALS:17-9-48. Oberlin — Korrie Freeman 5-6-16, Isaiah Jones-Smith 5-10-21, Nosaj Holley-Freeman 0-0-0, Bryan Grooms 0-1-1, Isaac Shahid 3-3-9, Drew Walter 1-0-2, Julian Anderson-Gaines 0-3-3, Jakshawn Windham 0-0-0, Joe Holt 1-3-6, Derrell Freeman 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-26-58. 3-point goals — Martin 3, Kray, Pamer, Holt, Jones-Smith. Rebounds — Black River 35 (Kray 9, Hopkins 8), Oberlin 27 (Freeman 10). Records — Black River (2-20, 1-13), Oberlin (3-19, 1-13).