Comets lose in overtime to Berea Braves, 49-47

by PAUL MORTON

Associate editor

Fans attending the game between the Amherst Comets and Berea Braves Friday night got their money's worth, especially the Berea fans, who watched their Braves pull out a stunning overtime win, 49-47.

The Comets had built up a six-point lead at half time, but Berea outscored Amherst, 17-11, in the third period for a 35-35 tie going into the fourth period of regulation.

Alex Kneisel hit a 3-pointer to give the Comets a 38-37 lead with 4:34 left in regulation. But Berea's Josh Malone responded with a layup to take back the lead.

Connor Weir tied the game at 39 hitting the front end of a one-and-one, then Shakeem Jones made a layup to take a 41-39 lead with 1:47 left in regulation. But Malone made a layup to tie the score at 41-41, and Berea intercepted an Amherst pass, but missed the front end of a one-and-one in regulation to force overtime.

In the overtime period, Jones scored a layup and a putback for the Comets. Those scores, however, were surrounded by two 3-pointers by Ryan Haynes, leaving the Comets down, 47-45 with 1:11 left in the first overtime period.

But Jones made a steal and called timeout with 41.6 seconds left. He was fouled on the inbound pass and buried both ends of the one-and-one to tie the score at 47-47, making double overtime appear imminent.

Berea had other ideas. With 0.2 seconds left, Nahum Holmes lobbed the inbound pass to Malone at the foul line. Malone batted the ball that went in the net as the horn sounded.

"The last shot didn't beat us," Amherst coach John Srnis said. "The 12-of-22 from the foul line is what beat us. That hurt us, along with not rebounding the basketball well enough and committing some untimely turnovers, too. We should never have allowed for it to get where it was."

The Comets host Olmsted Falls on Friday.