The O’Bannon Greenwaves beat the South Delta Bulldogs 55-53 in a thriller that went down to the wire Tuesday night.
With the score tired at 53-53 and seven seconds remaining in the game, Grenwaves junior guard Joshua Curtis took an inbounds pass and raced the length of the floor scoring the game winning layup.
Curitis was a one man wrecking crew in the fourth quarter as he took the offensive burden on his shoulders in the fourth.
With three pointers, layups and a couple of fast break buckets, Curtis accounted for 14 of the Greenwaves 19 fourth quarter points.
“Our leading scorer had an off shooting night and Joshua stepped up big time tonight,” said O’Bannon head coach Torrione Carter. “We have a number of guys capable of filling the void like this each night.”
South Delta opened up a 42-36 lead at the 1:22 marked of the third quarter after the teams had played virtually even all night.
On consecutive possessions, South Delta senior guard Rodshawn Gentry brought the crowd to its feet by throwing down monster dunks. The first was a one handed flush on Wilson and the next an alley oop from teammate Flood D’Monie. South Delta lead 47-38 after three quarters of play.
“I told the team that we were still in it and had a chance to win,” Carter said. “We just continued to do what we do best-play hard and pressure the ball on defense.”
The first few minutes of action picked up again in the second quarter with both teams exerting tremendous effort on both ends of the court. The Bulldogs maintained a slim margin throughout the quarter on the shooting of Gentry and interior play of Cornelius Thomas. O’Bannon countered by getting baskets from six different players in the second quarter. Kaylon Swilley nailed a three pointer from the wing as the first half buzzer sounded to put O’Bannon up 30-29 at the half.
South Delta opened up a double digit lead at the six minute mark of the first quarter. O’Bannon responded by scoring six unanswered points in 30 seconds thanks to pressure defense causing South Delta to turn the ball over. The Greenwaves trailed 19-17 at the end of one quarter.
“It feels good to get a victory over a rival like South Delta,” Carter said. “Especially since they beat us by two on their home court a few days ago.”
