Kingston Cougars: The streak is '1'

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

CADET — This year’s Kingston Cougars basketball team was able to accomplish what the past four year’s teams  were unable to pull off. They won, putting their current streak, a winning streak, at one. The Cougars had to earn it the hard way, pulling out a 64-61 win in double overtime over the Grandview Eagles.

“I wrote a number ‘1’ on the board (after the game) and asked them if they were happy with that number,” said Kingston coach Michael Schnatz. “They said they were not happy with that number ‘1’, and they want to go and get some more.”

The Cougars (1-5) had to fight from behind in regulation and also in the first overtime period to have a chance to break the seemingly endless spell of losses. Senior Nathan Boyer came through with both tying baskets for the Cougars.

In regulation, a broken play resulted in a loose ball which was collected by the Cougars and a wide-open Boyer was fed the ball under the basket for a lay-up with two-minutes still left to play to make the score 50-50. Three turnovers by the Eagles took away their chance to take the lead, and Kingston missed their only shot to prevent overtime.

In the first overtime, the Eagles stepped out to the quick lead, but a three by Frankie Guenther closed it to one. The Eagles would go up by three with 25.5 seconds left, and Kingston called time to set up a scoring play. Brad Merseal drove the left lane and leaped over the baseline, passing to the right corner to a wide open Boyer.

Boyer, who had missed his four previous attempts beyond the arc, did not miss on number five to tie the game again. A long three by Grandview was off the mark to set up the second OT.

Scoring from the floor became nearly nonexistent in the last period. Instead, the two teams turned the ball over five times in the first three minutes of the four-minute period. Freshman Joe Sulzer broke the tie, sinking his first shot of a one-and-one with 1:08 left and then made two more shots at the line, even after a time-out attempt to freeze him, with 35 second left.

Donnie Clark grabbed an offensive board and made a putback for the Eagles, but after a Kingston time-out the Eagles had to foul to get the ball back and Guenther became the victim. Guenther sank  both free throws, leaving Grandview the length of the floor, down by three points with only 4.3 seconds left, for a desperation try. A long three hit the front rim at the buzzer, and the Kingston gym erupted with celebration.

Grandview’s (0-7) last win was over the Cougars on February 22nd of this year, and the Eagles also handed Kingston the first loss of their losing  streak, which would end up being 97 straight, on February 27, 2003.

“I told the kids inside (the locker room), Nathan Boyer, Derek Govero, and Shawn Henry didn’t cry and whine when they came out (this year). They decided they were going to be the senior class. They were going to get it done, even if they weren’t the ones out there playing the whole time,” said Coach Schnatz about the long awaited win.

“Those three guys said they were going to break the streak, and they get the credit for being here four years and turning it around.”

The first-year coach added, “I didn’t have any pressure. My losing streak was only five games.”

It was three-pointers and free throws that gave the Cougars the scoring edge. Kingston made all four of their threes in the fourth quarter and first overtime period going 4-10 in the game. Grandview was 0-8 from beyond the arc. The Cougars were 16-21 from the free-throw line, while the Eagles missed 10 of their 19 tries.

Kingston led at the half 26-22, due mainly to 10 points by Boyer who finished with 17. Grandview’s Dillon Barnes helped keep the Eagles within striking range as he also scored 10 in the first half. Barnes finished with 22 to lead all scorers.

An eight-point third quarter for Grandview’s Donnie Clark, who finished with 19 points, helped propel the Eagles into the lead. The Eagles were able to attack the weak side of the key in the third quarter, resulting in several lay-ups which the Cougars were unable to answer until the fourth quarter.

The Eagles led by as much as six in the early going of the fourth quarter as turnovers plagued the Cougars time and time again. A three-pointer by Guenther finally cut the lead to only four, and back-to back broken plays by the Cougars resulted in the ball bouncing their way for two more baskets, the last one being Boyer’s tying three.

Kingston will try to make it two in a row on Friday when they host Valle for their first conference game.

Grandview  12 10 18 10 9 2 - 61

Kingston  15 11 12 12 9 5 - 64

Scoring:

Grandview - Barnes 22, Clark 19, Wegescheide 8, Frederick 6, Capranica 4, Pitezel 2. 3-Pointers - none.

Kingston - Boyer 17, West 13, Merseal 10, Guenther 10, Nunez 6, Henry 5, Sulzer 3. 3-Pointers - Guenther 2, West, Boyer.