Wilson survives Governor Mifflin 57-53 in 2 OTs to advance in District 3-AAAA playoffs

WYOMISSING>> The Wilson Bulldogs need some help with their free throw shooting — but they got enough attempts at it in overtime to end Governor Mifflin’s season.

Wilson needed two extra sessions to oust the Mustangs, 57-53, in a District 3 Class AAAA preliminary round game at neutral site Wyomissing High School on Saturday. Ordinarily, the higher seed hosts prelim games in D-3, but Wilson’s gym was hosting a junior high school wrestling tournament.

The No. 14 Bulldogs (16-8) advanced into Quad-A’s first round on Wednesday evening, against No. 3 seed Northeastern from York-Adams. The Mustangs, seeded 19th, saw their season draw to a close with a 12-12 mark.

The Bulldogs hit just one bucket in eight minutes of extra time but it hardly mattered — they went to the free throw line a total of 20 times during that span, converting 11. Mifflin, on the other hand, shot just two free throws in overtime, making one.

“I’m glad someone else noticed,” Mifflin head coach Dan Haughney said, before declining further comment. Wilson was 26 of 40 from the line for the game, Mifflin 11 of 17.

The game’s tight, physical flow between backyard rivals came as no surprise — it was the second contest in the last four between Wilson and Mifflin to go to OT. On the back of an 11-2 run to close the first half — its best sustained run of ball — Mifflin led 21-19 at the break. The third quarter ended tied at 33, regulation tied at 44 and the first overtime knotted at 49.

There was simply no room to breathe for 40 minutes.

“It wasn’t perfect, but they did enough to win,” Wilson head coach Matt Coldren said. “I’m really proud of them.

“But if you take care of the foul line, which has been a problem all year, we don’t go to overtime. It’s one of those things that in the off-season, they’ve got to put the time in. It’s such an easy part of the game that kids today make so difficult because they don’t work at it. And it means the world in a game.”

Wilson was without starters Brian Wright and Foday Jalloh, who were each suspended for violating team rules.

Senior Christian Sload scored a team-high 15 point for Wilson, and more impressively played the final 10 minutes of the second half and both overtimes hampered with four fouls.

“I felt like every bit of contact I was having was going to be the final whistle for me,” Sload said. “I think I fouled out one other time this year but that was with 10 seconds left in the game. This was early for me to pick up four and it was nerve-wracking. Could have been my final game, and I would ended it on the bench.”

Mifflin was paced by junior Bubba Peters, whose sublime effort Saturday was nearly enough to single-handedly extent the Mustangs’ season. Peters scored a game-high 19 points — including all 11 of Mifflin’s fourth-quarter points — before fouling out with 27 seconds to play in the second overtime. Two Peters free throws with 15 seconds left in regulation pulled the Mustangs even at 44.

“Bubba was huge at big times in the game,” Haughney said. “He’s just a great kid, he’s a winner.”

Mifflin had trouble with Wilson’s 1-2-2 half-court press flashes after  the break. The Bulldogs flashed it on four different occasions and it produced two turnovers, four Wilson points off those miscues, and a Mifflin timeout.

David Awurumibe’s defensive stop at the close of regulation — denying Mifflin center Zach Smith the ball at the far key with 1.9 seconds on the clock in a “Hill-to-Laettner” baseline pass attempt — forced overtime. Smith complemented Peters’ heroics with 12 points as the only other Mustang to crack double-digits. Awurumibe scored 13 points for Wilson, while Sean McAndrew banked 11.

Peters had the ball in his hands with a chance to win it near the end of the first OT, but dribbled the ball off his leg near midcourt with seven seconds left. The ball rolled out of bounds and the clock expired.

Julian Buchanon nailed a pair huge 3-pointers — one in each overtime, and his only points of the game — to keep Mifflin afloat in the extra sessions. His first triple evnetually forced a second overtime by knotting the contest at 49. His second brought the Mustangs within 53-52 with 1:31 left in the second OT, but his club could not seize the lead.

 

District 3 Class AAAA

preliminary round

Wilson 57, Governor Mifflin 53 (2 OT)

Governor Mifflin –  6  15  12  11  5  4 — 53

Wilson –  12  7  14  11  7  6 — 57

 

Governor Mifflin

Tisdale 1 0-0 3, Diaz-Cruz 4 0-0 9, Bubba Peters 6 6-7 19, Walmer 1 0-0 3, Zach Smith 4 4-8 12, Harman 0 1-2 1, Buchanon 2 0-2 6. Totals: 18 11-17 53.

3-pointers: 6 (Buchanon 2, Tisdale, Diaz-Cruz, Peters, Walmer)

Fouled out: Peters, Walmer

 

Wilson

Christian Sload 5 5-8 15, David Awurumibe 2 7-10 13, Jackson 1 4-9 6, Sean McAndrew 2 7-8 11, McElroy 3 1-3 7, Skeete 1 2-2 5, Coldren 0 0-0 0, Reigel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 26-40 57.

3-pointers: 3 (Awurumibe 2, Skeete)