Both teams had opportunities to snare the Old Dominion Athletic Conference win Wednesday at the Jane P. Batten Student Center, but it was the host Marlins who came up with the crucial plays down the stretch in a second overtime period to pull out a thrilling 78-75 decision for a 10th consecutive victory.
Brandon Adair (Virginia Beach, Va./Princess Anne) emerged with a block, a basket and two key rebounds in that second overtime, adding to a stellar performance for the junior who finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. Adair put on another shooting clinic, connecting on a career-high 14-of-17 shots from the field. He scored the fifth highest number of field goals, shot the fifth highest percentage (.823) and recorded the fourth highest total of steals in VWC history.
His outta-here block with 1:46 to play in the second overtime helped to keep the Eagles (5-8, 2-5) from taking a four-point lead and gave an emotional lift to the Marlins (12-3, 7-1) who followed with an intense assault on the boards. Virginia Wesleyan out-rebounded Bridgewater 5-1 in the final 1:43 to help take control. Ironically, the Eagles’ only rebound in those closing 103 seconds was by standout senior Clay Michael off his own missed shot. He took the ball back to the hoop and scored to give Bridgewater a 75-74 lead with 51 seconds to play.
Virginia Wesleyan worked the ball around to find the open shot and had sophomore Ari’ Paschal (Virginia Beach, Va./Hebron, Maine) available for a three-point attempt, but when the ball bounced off the rim Adair was there to pull it down to keep possession with the Marlins. Adair wasted little time in going to the basketball however, putting the ball through the net to give VWC a 76-75 advantage with 24 seconds to play.
Bridgewater followed suit and began its own series of passes to find the best shot and appeared to have it when Michael went up with the ball. But, the ball only hit the side of the rim and sophomore Tyler Fantin (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam) yanked it down with five seconds to play. Senior Marques Fitch (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam) was fouled following a Bridgewater timeout and iced the win by sinking a pair of free throws with two seconds on the clock.
It was an intense finish to a game that started to head in that direction in regulation when Bridgewater put together a 16-5 run to turn a 50-39 deficit with 10:01 to play into a 55-all deadlock with 3:36 on the clock. Drew Breidenbaugh scored eight points in the run, which was capped by a Josh Maupin triple.
Maupin added five more points in the final 1:57 to give the Eagles a 60-58 lead, but Adair came up with the game-tying bucket inside, off an assist from Paschal, with 14 seconds to play. The Eagles had the last possession and tried to work the ball for a game-winning shot, but could not find an opening against an aggressive Virginia Wesleyan defense.
After battling to three ties in the first overtime, Virginia Wesleyan grabbed the momentum when sophomore TonTon Balenga (Newport News, Va./Warwick) ripped through a triple with 1:07 to play to give the Marlins a 69-66 lead. VWC still led 71-68 with 29 seconds on the clock and had the chance to put the game away with Fantin at the charity stripe for a bonus foul situation with 14 seconds to play. His front-end shot missed and was rebounded by Michael, who worked hard against the VWC defense to nail a three-point attempt from the top of the key with :02 on the clock to tie the game again.
Breidenbaugh gave the Eagles the first lead in the second overtime, which included three lead changes. Michael’s jumper gave Bridgewater its last lead at 75-74 with 51 seconds to play, before Adair regained the advantage for VWC for good with his jumper with 24 seconds to play.
Michael finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds for Bridgewater, putting up 22 shots and hitting nine. Maupin finished with 16 points, hitting four triples, and Breidenbaugh tallied 10 on a 4-of-6 shooting night. The Eagles helped their effort by outrebounding the Marlins 41-36.
Paschal came through with 16 points for Virginia Wesleyan, hitting 6-of-8 field goals, including 4-of-6 triple attempts. Balenga tallied 13 points, including three triples. Fantin finished with only three points, but came up with nine key rebounds and three blocks for VWC. Sophomore D’Juan Tucker (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) aided the Marlins’ with a game-high five assists.
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