Tigers Nip Rebels In Cliff Hanger

by Dwight Turner In a battle of evenly matched basketball teams, the Ardmore Tigers played four quarters of spirited basketball last Friday night and came away with a thrilling 52-50 win over the visiting West Morgan Rebels. Friday night's game was not the first time this season the two teams played a tight ballgame. Back in December, the Tigers and Rebels battled into overtime at West Morgan, with the Rebels eventually prevailing by four points.

Ardmore's Matthew Clem (24) puts in a critical bucket from the charity stripe late in the fourth quarter against West Morgan, as teammates Eric Atchley, left, and Jake Stagner (52) move toward the basket during the Tigers' win over the Rebels. (photo by Joe Stagner)

Friday night's contest, however, was Ardmore's turn to shine.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick lead when Eric Atchley put up a field goal and Will Lewis nailed a three-point bucket to put Ardmore up 5-0 in the early going. West Morgan pulled to within a point, 5-4, on buckets from Andrew Elliott and took the lead when Rod Goodlow hit a two-pointer at the 4:00 mark.

A little over a minute later the Tigers took the lead for good on a trey from Matthew Clem and, after a free throw pulled the Rebels back to within one, 8-7, Tiger Charlie Deffenbaugh sank a trey to give the Tigers a 11-7 lead heading into the second stanza.

Both teams tallied 13 points in the second period and, true to this year's form, the Tigers relied heavily on three-point baskets. Clem drained two treys for the Tigers in the second stanza and teammate Landon Taylor hit another to pull the Tigers out to a 24-15 lead with 2:15 left in the half.

West Morgan closed the gap to four points, 24-20 and that's where matters stood at halftime.

Ardmore hit six treys in the first two quarters, three by Clem and one each from Taylor, Deffenbaugh and Lewis.

Lewis continued the Tiger assault by launching a three-pointer that caught nothing but net to open the third stanza. Moments later, with the Tigers up 29-24, Clem hit yet another bucket from three-point range. Clem added two shots from the charity stripe and the Tigers led by 10, 34-24, with 4:58 left in the third quarter.

West hit a quick field goal and Blake Blackledge nailed a trey to pull the Rebels to within five points, 34-29, at the 3:27 mark. Lewis and Clem countered with two quick baskets to put the Tigers back out front by nine, 38-29.

As the third period wound down, West Morgan fought back to get within five points, 38-33. At the 1:01 mark, Tiger Landon Curtis drained two buckets from the charity stripe and the Tigers led 40-33 heading into the final stanza.

West Morgan pulled to within three points early in the fourth quarter and eventually got to within two points of the lead, 43-41, with 4:25 left to play. Lewis put the Tiger lead back at five with yet another three-pointer, his third of the night.

West Morgan, however, refused to roll over. Trailing 46-41, Elliott put in a field goal and Micah Randolph hit two shots from the charity stripe to pull the Rebels to within a point, 46-45 with 1:22 left to play.

Atchely hit a crucial two-pointer for the Tigers, but Elliott hit two free throws to bring West Morgan back to within a point, 48-47, with 44 ticks left on the clock.

Clem then took over for the Tigers, going four-for-four from the charity stripe in the final 26 seconds to seal the win for Ardmore. West Morgan added a late field goal but could only get to within two points, 52-50, as the buzzer sounded.

Clem led all scorers with 21 points. Lewis had 11 for the Tigers and Randolph paced the Rebel attack with 20 points.

West Morgan 7 20 33 50

Ardmore 11 24 40 52

West Morgan (50) _ Randolph 20; Elliott 13; Goodlow 10; Blackledge 5; Swope 2.

Ardmore (52) _ Lewis 11; Deffenbaugh 3; Atchley 4; Clem 21; Taylor 3; Kobeck 6; Curtis 2; Stagner 2.

Three-point goals _ West Morgan 2; Ardmore 9.