Youth basketball championships: Tar Heels edge Tide in overtime
Published 7:51 pm Sunday, February 26, 2017
Roll Tide and the Tar Heels jousted back and forth, all the way to overtime, in Sunday’s mites championship. When the smoke cleared, it was Keyshawn Rouse’s free throws in the overtime period that lifted the Tar Heels to a 30-29 win.
The two sides traded baskets throughout. Neither team led by more than four points, and the game was tied on eight occasions.
Rouse and Zymiere Goddard were effective from mid range, helping the Tar Heels build a 6-2 lead early on. Nehmiah Swinson gave the Tide its first basket of the game, setting up Zacarias Moore to tie the game with a buzzer beater at the end of the first.
Two quick buckets at the end of the second helped the Tide roll to its first lead of the game, 14-12, going into the halftime break.
Keshon Tucker helped spark a third-quarter flurry for the Tide. His bucket broke a 14-14 tie. After Goddard and Jahmir Rouse helped the Tar Heels draw even, Tucker got another shot to fall, giving the Tide a 22-18 lead late in the third. Keyshawn Rouse’s basket made it a one-shot game, 22-20, heading into the fourth.
The Tar Heels reclaimed the lead thanks to makes from Goddard and the Rouse duo. It was 28-26 with 1:25 left in regulation before Tucker made both of his free throws to send the game into overtime.