The Middletown High School Varsity boys’ basketball team lost a heartbreaker Wednesday night to the Williamsport High School boys’ basketball team by a score of 57-49. Both teams started slow, with the Knights and Wildcats struggling to get good shot opportunities and with both teams committing multiple turnovers.
The pace picked up though late in the first quarter as the Knights started to play into the flow of the game and make more shots. Defense dominated the first half though as the score at halftime was an 18-15 Middletown lead.
Middletown junior Ben Panther led the Knights with six points at the half and it appeared that the Knights might be on its way to that win that it had been searching for.
The third quarter continued on the same pace as the first two had with both the Knights and the Wildcats going back and forth with both teams playing strong defense. As the third quarter ended the crowd at Ron Engle Court at Middletown High School loudened knowing that the Knights had a chance to finish this one and get its first win of the season.
The Knights started off the fourth quarter well with Middletown senior Howie Kalamets hitting a three pointer from the corner and Middletown junior Bradley Rinehart making four free throws to open up the lead to seven points with 5:54 left in the game.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats came storming back led by small forward Sterling Christy, who had a game high 30. The Wildcats used their size advantage to crash the paint and draw fouls which put them at the line and let them shoot and convert its free throw attempts.
The Wildcats tied the game on five free throws with 3:27 left to play and from then on the game was a back and forth affair. The Wildcats took a two point lead after Rinehart missed two free throws with 3:15 left but then the Knights came back to take the one point lead after a free throw and a lay-up by Rinehart. After Kalamets finished a lay-up and the Wildcats converted on two free throws, Middletown took a two point lead with 17 seconds left on a jump shot by Middletown junior Tim Schumacher.
The Knights appeared to have the game in the bag as Schumacher was sent to the free throw line with 3.3 seconds left with a chance to give the Knights a four point lead.
Schumacher would miss both though, tying up the ball after the second missed free throw. With 1.8 seconds left Williamsport point guard Benjamin Siebert tossed a home-run pass down the court, which evaded the hands of several outstretched Middletown defenders, and fell to Christy who dribbled once and then put a lay-up in to tie the game at 47.
Heading in to overtime it appeared that the Knights had lost all of their momentum and they struggled to get anything going with the Wildcats going on a 7-0 run to start overtime.
The Knights wouldn’t do much offensively in overtime, being outscored 10-2 with their big men, senior Ian Grife and junior Luke Headley on the bench after fouling out.
The Knights leading scorers were Kalamets with 15 points and Rinehart with 13 points. Grife had four blocks and Rinehart had five assists for the Knights.
The Knights will have to keep their emotions in check and get prepared to play Brunswick on Friday, as they search for their first win of the season. Friday will be Senior Night for the Knights as they honor seniors Howie Kalamets, Brandon Shaffer, Ben Racz, Ian Grife, and Paul Aniugo.
The Knights JV team beat the Williamsport High School JV team by a final score of 53-38 to go to 9-8 on the season. The JV team was powered by freshman Matthew Considine who scored 20 points for the Knights.
