BATH — After shooting just 2-of-20 from the field and being down 26-8 at the end of the first half, it appeared Bath was heading towards a loss against I-75 rivals Bluffton.
However, the Wildcats found their shooting touch in the second half and upped their defensive pressure to outscore the Pirates, 27-9, in the second half to force the game into overtime and then rode that wave of momentum to outscore Bluffton, 12-3, in the extra stanza to record the 47-38 victory Friday night.
Bath improves to 2-1 on the season and Bluffton falls to 0-2 for the year.
Bath head coach Shawn Allen said it was nice to get the comeback win but he knows they cannot do this each game.
“Not only did we miss shots in the first half, but the more shots we missed the worse our effort got defensively,” Allen said. “Give Bluffton credit they were shooting it at a high level in the first half and it probably got as worse it can get. But in the second half we got after it right from the get go.”
Bluffton head coach Todd Boblitt, who watched his team lose a second straight game in overtime, said this was another heartbreaking loss for his team.
“This was a tale of two halves for sure,” Boblitt said. “They had a hard time scoring in the first half and we had an equally hard time in the second half. We were pleased but not content after the first half. We played pretty well but we knew they could make shots for sure.”
For the game, Bluffton finished shooting 35 percent and Bath ended up shooting 31 percent.
Wildcat senior Ryan Gossard, who scored a game-high 12 points, led the charge the second half rally when he knocked down a 3-pointers to jump start the Bath offense. Teammate Kaden Sullivan followed with two points and Gossard recorded his second triple of the quarter to narrow the gap to 26-16.
A trey by Chad Frey put Bath within five, however, Bluffton stopped the bleeding with its first bucket of the second half when Antony Kingsley put down a bucket at the 1:31 mark. The two teams exchanged buckets in the final minute of the third period and going into the fourth quarter, Bluffton led 31-21.
“Our goal was to get it to eight but the end of the third and we got it down to six or seven at one time but they got it back to 10 but I give all the credit to the kids because they didn’t give up,” Allen said. “We didn’t say anything different at halftime but we might have said it a little bit sterner.”
Bath erased that 10-point deficit to two by the 2:38 mark when the Wildcats went on a 10-2 run to open the final quarter. Bluffton tried to run out the clock in the final two minutes but the persistent Wildcats pressured the Pirates into turnovers and when Kaden Sullivan pumped in a lay-up to tie the score at 35-35, with 17.5 seconds left in the game. The Wildcats almost won the game in regulation when they stole the ball on Bluffton’s ensuing possession but Frey’s floater just missed going in to send the game into overtime.
Frey finished with 10 points for the game.
“I thought we turned the ball over too much in the second half,” Boblitt said. “That is what really what allowed them to get back in the game. They probably settled in and became more comfortable with what we were doing defensively and they had looks in the first half and didn’t make them but made them in the second half.”
Pirate Gabe Denecker led the team in scoring with 9 points. The senior post scored seven of those points in the first half but was limited to two in the second half. Antony Kinglsey grabbed nine boards for Bluffton.
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