Boys basketball: Broken play helps Vermilion beat Clearview
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SHEFFIELD TWP. — It was a broken play, but it won a basketball game for Vermilion on Tuesday night.
Trailing Clearview by a point with 20 seconds left, the Sailors drew up a backdoor play, starting at the far end of the court. It never materialized.
But Nick Farley did.
The big senior found himself open near midcourt, took off, got a long inbounds pass and drove the rest of the way for a layup and Vermilion was in charge by a point. Farley added two foul shots with 3.5 seconds to go and the Sailors (4-1) went home with a 61-58 non-conference victory.
The Clippers dropped to 1-1.
It was a fan-friendly thriller with five ties and nine lead changes. The final tie came with 31 seconds left. The Clippers’ Kyle Baughman hit the first of two foul shots to tie it at 57. He also created a lead change when he made the second free throw. Barely 10 seconds later, Farley scored the eventual winner.
“I just stepped up, my team needed me to step up,” said Farley, who finished with a game-high 22 points, including three 3-pointers. “We had a play set up, but we couldn’t get the ball into the guy we wanted to so I just took it down the floor hoping we could get a win.”
“They took our point guard away,” Sailors coach Kurt Habermehl said of the Clippers. “They took Madison (Montgomery) away to bring the ball down the floor. It was a play set up for Nick and (Montgomery), and they took Madison away. I told Nick in the huddle, ‘If things break down, it’s time for you to go.”
He went and it worked. The Clippers’ Baughman got off a shot in the paint near the foul line with four seconds left, but it wouldn’t fall. Farley was fouled under the Clippers basket on the play, and added the two foul shots.
“I can’t describe how much heart I thought our kids had tonight,” Habermehl said. “They never gave up and I couldn’t be more proud of this team. They were scrappy, too. They were getting loose balls and they rebounded the ball pretty well.”
No question. The Sailors controlled the backboards 41-27. But they also led in turnovers, 29-10, or else the margin might have been greater. Otherwise, the stats battle was basically a tie. Both teams made 20 field goals, both took 24 free throws and both tried 15 3-point shots.
The difference? Vermilion made one more foul shot and two more 3-pointers.
“It was a good game,” Clearview coach John Szalay said. “We did a lot of good things to get leads. We got a lead early and we got a lead kind of late. But, boy, those Vermilion kids just never quit. They’ve got a great winning attitude over there and we have to get that.”
Mitch Novak added 13 points for the Sailors, who had 10 players see action and all score.
“I give a lot of credit to Madison Montgomery,” Habermehl said. “He hadn’t hit a shot all night, but he came up with a huge one to tie the game.”
That, he did. It was the last of Vermilion’s five 3-pointers and Montgomery drained it to tie the score at 53 with 3:45 to play.
Vermilion 61, Clearview 58
VERMILION (61): Chris Champion 1-0-2, Madison Montgomery 1-2-5, Cameron Zima 2-0-4, Dan Oates 1-0-2, Jordan Gillespie 1-0-2, Mitch Novak 4-5-13, Aaron McCan 2-1-6, Cody Timbs 1-1-3, Ben Kitchen 1-0-2, Nick Farley 6-7-22. Totals 20-16-61.
CLEARVIEW (58): Tony Williams 0-0-0, Anthony Hitchens 8-1-17, Kevin Watson 0-2-2, Colin Watson 2-3-9, Zach Anderson 0-0-0, Collin Owens 0-1-1, Eric Thompson 5-3-13, Kyle Baughman 3-5-12, DeShawn Carter 0-0-0, Devon Daniels 0-0-0, Dominic Dominguez 0-0-0, Aaron Arnozcky 2-0-4. Totals 20-15-58.
Vermilion 13 18 6 24 – 61
Clearview 20 10 13 15 – 58
3-point goals: Vermilion 5-15 (Farley 3, McCann, Montgomery); Clearviiew 3-15 (K. Watson 2, Baughman). Field goals: Vermilion 20-45 (44.4 percent); Clearivew 20-59 (33.9 percent). Free throws: Vermilion 16-24; Clearview 15-24. Rebounds: Vermilion 41, Clearview 27. Turnovers: Vermilion 29, Clearview 10. Fouled out: Timbs, McCann, Thompson.
JV: Clearview, 45-33
Contact Daniels at 329-7135 or basketball@bobdaniels.info.
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