Colts beat Mahanoy in OT

Mahanoy Area seemed to have it all late in its game against rival Marian.

The Golden Bears were ruling the roost. They had momentum, they had the lead, they were dictating tempo, and at times they were dominating one of the most crucial areas of the game – rebounding.

There was exactly 4:09 to play and the Bears had taken a six-point lead. They looked to be in control.

But suddenly Jarred Maylath and sophomore scoring sensation Tyler Fritz came to the fore for the Colts.

The pair combined their special talents in the closing minutes of regulation as Marian rallied for a thrilling 64-62 Schuylkill League win.

The victory makes Thursday night’s regular season finale with Panther Valley a “must win” for the Colts, who can force a first-place tie with the Panthers in Division 3 with a victory.

That scenario would have gone down the drain had Mahanoy (7-11, 5-7) managed to convert better at the foul line.

“I think we were 5-for-13 in the fourth quarter, we knock those down and game over,” said Mahanoy Area coach Ethan Eichhorst.

The Colts (11-8, 8-4) took advantage of that when Fritz found his stroke and converted a three-point play then let loose with a boomerang of a triple to tie the game 49-49 with 3:16 to play.

“I kept telling our kids that you got to fight, this is our chance,” said Colt assistant coach Mike Brennan, who was filling in for head coach John Patton.

Those words didn’t fall on deaf ears.

The Bears’ Jordan McGee sank one of three fouls and drained a monster triple with 2:17 to play in regulation for a 53-49 lead. Fritz, who struggled at times, but still managed a game-high 25 points, never ceded hitting a jumper and when Chris Ritsick boomed home corner triple, Martian had a 54-53 lead with :09 to play.

Mahanoy had a huge opportunity to win it with four ticks but Justin Rivera missed the first end of a two-shot foul, before sinking the second one to tie the game and force overtime.

The four-minute overtime continued to stay in doubt even after Maylath and Fritz hit buckets, the Bears tied it on a pair Rivera foul conversions, 60-60 with just 24 seconds left in overtime. Then Maylath put his team in front for good on a drive and Fritz iced the outcome when he sank a pair of technical fouls with 01.9 to play when Mahanoy inadvertently called an extra timeout.

The wild finish occurred when the Bears were called for a backcourt violation after Maylath’s bucket put Marian ahead. Mahanoy then asked for a time out, leading to the technical.

“We wanted Thursday to be meaningful,” said Brennan.

Indeed it will be.

SKY HIGH … Fritz was held to six points in the first half, on an excellent defensive effort by Rivera, before exploding after intermission. Maylath finished with 16 and Ritsick had 12 with four triples. The Bears were king of the hill in rebounding with a whopping 52-35 edge. Shane Miller had 17, McGee picked off 13 and Rivera added nine. Marian’s Noah Stauffer and Dante Agosti had nine and eight rebounds respectively

SHOOTING STARS … The Colts went 25-for-59 from the floor. The Bears were 23-for-63. That’s a huge number of shots as they combined to put it up 122 times.

MAHANOY AREA

Rivera 5-6-9-16, McGee 5-2-5-15, Miller 5-1-3-12, Atkins 4-0-0-8, Mazalusky 3-0-0-6, Feliciano 1-0-0-3, Soriano 0-2-4-2, Ramos 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-11-21-62.

MARIAN

Fritz 10-4-6-25, Maylath 7-2-2-16, Ritsick 4-0-0-12, Agosti 2-0-0-5, Stauffer 1-1-2-4, Sabulsky 1-0-0-2, McCall 0-0-0-0, Goff 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 25-7-10-64.

Mahanoy Area 8 14 20 12 8 - 62

Marian 14 14 10 16 10 - 64

Three-pointers: Mahanoy Area - McGee 3, Miller 1, Feliciano 1; Marian - Ritsick 4, Fritz 1, Stauffer 1, Agosti 1.