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File this one under:
Instant Classic.
Jordan Brewer hit the second of two foul shots with no time showing on the clock in the second overtime period to lift Manheim Township to a thrill-a-minute 49-48 win over Cedar Crest in a knock-down, drag-em-out L-L League Section 1 game Thursday night in Lebanon.
End result: Township forced a first-place tie with Cedar Crest, as the Blue Streaks and the Falcons are now both 9-3 in league games with four league games to go after splitting their regular-season series.
Cedar Crest beat Township 49-40 on Jan. 5 in Neffsville.
Township repaid the favor Thursday night in riveting fashion, tying the game on Lisbet Byler's bucket at the buzzer of the first OT, and then winning it with no time left in the second OT when Brewer, who was fouled going up in traffic in a 48-all game just as the buzzer sounded, coolly and calmly drilled her second attempt after missing the first.
Game over.
Cue the wild celebration in front of Township's bench.
"We control our own destiny now," Byler said. "It was a great, great win. I thought our poise was incredible and we got contributions from everyone. It was awesome."
The ending was eerily reminiscent of Township's crossover game at Solanco on Tuesday, when Byler stepped to the line with no time left in regulation, needing to make both shots to tie the game and force OT.
But she missed the first and Solanco held on, 50-48.
Byler got some redemption Thursday by forcing the second OT when she found herself all alone under the basketball off an inbound pass from Kiersten Green with 2.6 seconds left.
And Brewer won it later by sinking a foul shot with triple zeroes on the clock, and the big crowd on its feet.
"When I missed the first one I just shook it off," Brewer said. "I just blocked everything out and I said to myself, 'I'm making this.'"
Swish.
First-place tie.
Section 1, once again, is chaos.
Now here's the kicker — Penn Manor is 8-3 in league games, and if the Comets beat McCaskey Friday night in Millersville, they'll join Township and Cedar Crest in a very crowded three-way logjam tie for first place, with two full weeks to go.
"This is huge for us," Township coach Lance Wagner said. "If we lose here we're two games out of first place and a game out of second place. So this was a two-game swing for us."
And it capped a crazy week for the Streaks, who dropped a non-league game to Berks heavyweight Governor Mifflin on Monday before falling in gut-wrenching fashion at Solanco on Tuesday to drop out of a first-place tie with Cedar Crest.
Township (13-5 overall) limped into Lebanon needing a win to force another tie, knowing a loss, as Wagner said, could drop the Streaks to third place, pending Penn Manor's outcome Friday.
Township responded, staying in a hounding man-to-man defense throughout the game and gutting it out late.
"This ranks high on the gut-check meter," Wagner said. "Three games in four nights … the way the kids responded. Wow. We were so tired on Wednesday — and mentally shot. We only practiced for 20 minutes."
And then Wagner put the basketballs away and called a team meeting.
"We wanted to see where our kids were mentally," Township's coach said. "I wanted them to look me in the eyes and tell me where they were. It was the ultimate Dr. Phil session. We sat in a circle and talked it all out. And we had a great talk."
And the talk translated over into Thursday's game, which Township tied 39-all with 41 seconds to go in the first OT when Alex Ross, who scored a career-high 9 points, scored in the lane.
But Cedar Crest's Meghan Phillips drove the right baseline and scored on a pretty crossover layup with 12 seconds to go to give the Falcons a 41-39 lead.
Phillips, the L-L League's leading scorer, had 17 points, including 11-of-14 from the foul line.
She did, however, miss a pair of free throws late in regulation with Cedar Crest (13-4 overall) nursing a 38-37 lead after Phillips scored on a scoop shot with 1:17 to go in the fourth quarter.
Undaunted, Green, who scored a team-high 13 points for Township, missed a jumper in the waning seconds, and a jump ball was called after a mad scramble for the loose ball.
Possession arrow: Township — with 2.6 seconds to go.
Township assistant coach Brian Brewer — Jordan's dad — called the inbound play, and after a couple of picks and screens, Byler was wide open, took the pass, and beat the first OT buzzer and the Streaks and the Falcons were off to a second OT.
Byler had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Township.
The Streaks were milking a 48-46 lead with 12 seconds to go when Green was fouled. But she missed both attempts and the Falcons capitalized when Megan McCabe made a floater in the lane to knot it at 48-all and time running out in the second OT.
On Township's last-gasp possession, Brewer, who scored 9 points and plucked 7 boards, ended up with the ball on the right baseline and went up in traffic.
The whistle was blown just an eyelash before the horn went off.
The refs conferred and decided Brewer was indeed fouled before the buzzer and she was awarded two shots in a 48-all game with no time left.
Brewer missed the first shot, but swished the second, and Township escaped.
"To come here and win this game speaks volumes about our kids," Wagner said.
NOTES — Township out-rebounded Cedar Crest 35-34. … Township turned the ball over 22 times; Cedar Crest 21 times — 13 in the first half, when Township built an 11-7 lead after the first quarter — on Green's pick and pull-up 3-pointer at the buzzer — and led 18-17 at the break. … Jazmine Trimble hit a pair of 3-pointers and added 13 points for the Falcons, while Taylor Boyer scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Cedar Crest, which had its five-game winning streak snapped. Boyer's two foul shots tied the game at 32-all with 42.2 seconds to go in regulation. Township had the ball last in the fourth quarter, and called a timeout with 13.8 ticks showing. But the Streaks didn't get a shot off. … Green, a junior Cleveland State commit, has 908 career points for Township.
Sports writer Jeffrey Reinhart can be reached at jreinhart@LNPnews.com or 291-8777.
