Central escapes with win
Klotz’s putback lifts Dragons
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MARTINSBURG -- Central freshman basketball player Hunter Klotz has not played enough on the varsity level to develop a nickname just yet amongst the team's faithful followers.
After Tuesday night's District 6 Class 4A playoff opener against Forest Hills, he probably could now. How about "Clutch''?
The freshman forward got an offensive rebound with 5 seconds left and put it back in for a 52-51 lead, and the Scarlet Dragons held on for a win to move on to the semifinals at Huntingdon Thursday night.
"It's kind of weird how a freshman steps up and wins the game for them," Rangers coach Dominic Vescovi said. "The last thing we said to our guys was we have to get the rebound. That was the shot we wanted them to take. He (Joey Smith) took a shot contested by two of our guys, but we didn't get the rebound."
Klotz, first off the bench for Central, scored only four points, but they came in the final 1:24 of the game.
"He is really mature beyond his age. He cannot be rattled," Central coach Reggie Nevins said. "He plays hard, and he plays smart. I wasn't surprised when he did that. The last six possessions of the game, we were trying to get the ball to Joey or him in the paint and see what could happen."
The Rangers called a timeout after the shot and set up a final play. Ryan Richardson, who led Forest Hills with 23 points, did not touch the ball. Adam Cecere got off a decent two-point attempt at the buzzer, but it rimmed off as the buzzer sounded.
"We got in a hurry too much down the stretch," said Vescovi, whose club led, 49-41, with 2:23 to go in the game. "They were the better team down the stretch."
Nevins and his staff used a little history during their fourth-quarter timeouts, as well in practice, to point out that no deficit is too big to overcome.
"We share stories with our guys about our past teams who may have been down eight points or 10 points and that we came back and won," he said. "If we are down 8 or 10 points with 50 seconds left, then I worry. But I thought we still had a chance there in the fourth."
Both teams struggled early on as Forest Hills led by just one, 10-9, at the end of the first quarter. The struggle continued in the second quarter as with just 1:27 to go before halftime, Forest Hills led, 16-14. Smith, who led Central with 25 points, hit a bucket with one second left on the clock to cut the Rangers' lead to one at the break, 19-18.
"Smith was dominant for them," Vescovi said. "He got a lot of second-chance points, and it seemed like he hurt us on the glass, and every time I thought we had a comfortable lead, he would get a steal for them."
Forest Hills got its lead to eight at one point in the third quarter on a Richardson bucket at the 3:20 mark. But Central again battled back as Preston Karstetter banked in a jumper in the paint with 44 seconds left to cut the lead to 35-30 going into the final frame. He finished with 13 points, but none in the final frame.
"He had such a solid game, and we put him out there for almost all 32 minutes," Nevins said. "I probably should have gotten more guys more minutes off the bench. He just gets in there and battles guys two or three inches bigger than him, but he is such a competitor."
Part of the Central comeback in the fourth quarter, which the Dragons won, 22-16, had to do with Smith's 10 points, and Noah Muthler scoring eight of his 10 points in the frame.
"We told him (Muthler) at halftime, and again at the end of the third, that on our pick-and-roll, both of their guys go toward Joey so we told him to take the dang ball to the hole," Nevins said. "Once he felt comfortable, he had some nice finishes."
Game notes: Forest Hills beat Central, 53-48, to open this season back on Dec. 8. … Devin Smith had 10 points for the Rangers, who finished 15-8. … Central (17-6) gets Huntingdon for a third time this season, having lost twice already to the Bearcats. … Joey Smith was 5-of-10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.
FOREST HILLS (51): Smith 3 2-2 10, Chunta 1 0-1 3, Cecere 3 1-2 9, Schrock 0 0-0 0, Shope 1 1-3 3, Bernard 1 0-0 3, Spangler 0 0-0 0, Richardson 10 3-4 23. Totals -- 19 4-8 51.
CENTRAL (52): Karstetter 5 1-4 13, Smith 8 8-12 25, Williams 0 0-0 0, Albright 0 0-0 0, Muthler 4 1-1 10, Klotz 2 0-0 4, Kitt 0 0-0 0, Liebal 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 19 10-17 52.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Forest Hills 10 9 16 16 -- 51
Central 9 9 12 22 -- 52
3-point goals: Forest Hills 6 (Smith 2, Chunta, Cecere 2, Bernard); Central 4 (Karstetter 2, Smith, Muthler)
Records: Forest Hills (15-8), Central (17-6)
Officials: Jeff Heider, Steve Searer, John Thompson.