Montour comes up big in the clutch to beat South Fayette in overtime

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, January 7, 2020 | 11:21 PM

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Montour struggled offensively in the second half and into overtime, but when the Spartans needed a tying hoop and then a winning basket, they were a scoring machine.

Senior Tyler Banks hit an off-balance shot before the buzzer to tie the game at the end of regulation, then sophomore Isayh Mosely’s drive and basket in the waning seconds gave Montour a 48-47 road victory over South Fayette.

“This team, at times, we don’t have a real high basketball IQ,” Montour second-year coach Bill Minear said. “So you kind of have to coach every possession.”

After leading for most of the game, Montour trailed South Fayette 42-40 with seven seconds left.

The Spartans inbounded to junior Luke Persinger in the corner for an open three.

The junior, making playing his first game after a shoulder injury during the football season kept him on the sidelines, missed the potential game winner, but the ball ended up in Banks’ hands and he hit the shot near the top of the key with his foot barely on the line for the tie.

“Tyler Banks’ shot that sent it into overtime was tremendous,” Minear said. “For (Dom) Magliocco to find him on the rebound too was really good.”

In overtime, South Fayette senior Connor Mislan hit a long 3-pointer late to put the Lions up 47-46. That set up Mosley’s heroics as he drove to the hoop with time winding down and hit the layup right before the buzzer.

“He’s a sophomore and you can see during the game he makes mistakes and you have to live with that because he’s a talent,” Minear said of the 6-foot-6 Mosley. “The move, he doesn’t have a good left hand, but it was enough to get baseline around the kid and go up and score.”

South Fayette struggled out of the gates, trailing 12-3 before pulling to within 13-6 after the first quarter.

Not much changed in the second quarter as the Lions struggled from the field while the Spartans showed patience against the South Fayette zone.

The Lions started to chip away in the second half with a stifling defense and great work on the boards. Sophomore Brandon Jakiela started to find his shot while junior Jake Dunay came off the bench to spark South Fayette.

The comeback finally led to the Lions taking their first lead of the game on a Mislan 3-pointer that made it 37-36 South Fayette with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter.

But missed opportunites down the stretch and into overtime cost the Lions.

“Really good high school basketball game with both teams making big plays at big moments,” South Fayette coach Dave Mislan said. “Unfortunately, they made the last big play.”

Senior James Eubanks led Montour (5-6) with 15 points while three Spartans — Mosley, Banks and Magliocco — each added 10 points.

Dunay led South Fayette (5-5) with 14 points while Jakiela had 12 points.

The victory ends a three-game skid for the Spartans, who improve to 2-2 in Section 2-5A and move into fourth place, a half-game ahead of the Lions, who fall to 2-3.

“It hurts,” Mislan said. “That doesn’t take away from how proud I am of the effort from our guys.”

Tags: Montour, South Fayette