Lima Central Catholic’s Carson Parker shoots against Lima Senior’s Jagger Hutchins at the buzzer sending the game into overtime Saturday at Msgr. Edward C. Herr Gymnasium.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA — Carson Parker held the Lima Cup, which goes to the winner of the annual boys basketball rivalry game between Lima Senior and Lima Central Catholic, as he stood on the court at the Monsignor E.C. Herr Gymnasium after the Thunderbirds’ 56-47 overtime win against the Spartans on Saturday night.
A few minutes earlier, he’d held the fate of the game in those same hands.
Parker’s 15-footer from the right side as time ran out sent the game into overtime. And once the overtime began, the momentum didn’t just shift to the Thunderbirds, it stampeded toward them when they outscored Lima Senior 9-0 in the OT.
LCC’s win ended Lima Senior’s nine-year winning streak in the rivalry.
Parker scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds, Jordan Priddy scored 13 points, and Billy Bourk had 8 points and 13 rebounds to lead LCC (18-2). Isaiah Wilson’s 17 points led Lima Senior (13-9) and Shawn Foster scored 11 points.
Lima Senior led by seven points with four minutes to play. But a bucket by Parker and a 3-pointer by Priddy, combined with the Spartans going scoreless in the final four minutes, set up Parker’s shot that put the game into overtime.
“There was no quit in my kids. We kept fighting. Our crowd stayed in the game and Carson Parker is Carson Parker,” LCC coach Sean Powell said. “I believe if we’re down four, he would have hit a four-pointer for us.”
As it was, a two-pointer was enough to launch the Thunderbirds toward their electrifying overtime win.
That game-changing play began with LCC 94 feet from its own basket with 2.5 seconds on the clock.
The plan was to throw the in-bounds pass to a player in the frontcourt and call a quick timeout, but a Lima Senior defender knocked the ball out of bounds in front of the Thunderbirds’ bench.
So, LCC now had two seconds to get a shot off. The T-Birds wanted to throw a lob pass to Parker near the basket. But when Lima Senior’s 6-7 Jagger Hutchins moved into the lane instead of defending against Bourk, who was making the in-bounds pass, the Thunderbirds improvised.
“The reason I was taking it out was to have their tall guy on the ball. So when they dropped their tall guy, I was like, ‘Coach, it’s a different read. Am I still going to the same spot?’ and he said, ‘Hit Carson, hit Carson,’ ” Bourk said.
“I saw Carson take that turn and I just let that thing fly, hoping he was going to go get it. I saw him catch it, turn around, the clock’s running and he hit that shot. (Now let’s) take it to overtime and win that thing.”
Parker said, “It was designed for me to get a lob. When I saw the guy (Hutchins) guarding Billy in the paint, I still was like, ‘I hope he throws it to me.’ I knew the lay-up wasn’t going to be there, so I turned around.
“When I turned around, I couldn’t even see the rim. When I shot it, it felt good. When it rattled in it was my best moment in high school.”
Bourk said, “I just said in the locker room this is a band of brothers. It doesn’t matter how much we’re down at any point in the game, we’re all going to link together, we’re all going to be a team and we’re going to unify to get back to where we need to be.
“We’ve had two losses this year (to Delphos St. John’s and Spencerville) where we had a chance to tie it up at the end, and we didn’t get it. This time, we knew we weren’t going to let it slide. We got it, took it to OT, and won,” he said.
Lima Senior missed both shots of a two-shot free throw opportunity in the final minute of regulation and again in overtime and missed layups in the final minute of regulation and overtime.
“I don’t have a lot of words. We gave them a game. We handed it to them,” Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson said.
Lima Central Catholic 56, Lima Senior 47 (OT)
Score by quarters:
Lima Senior 11 7 21 8 0 – 47
LCC 8 13 12 14 9 – 56
LIMA SENIOR
Dashad Greer 7, Jaeveon Walton 8, Jagger Hutchins 1, Isaiah Wilson 17, Shawn Foster 11, Kaden Hampton 3. Totals: 17-6-47.
LIMA CENTRAL CATHOLIC
Carson Parker 21, DeMarr Foster 4 Billy Bourk 8, Willie Foster 8, Jordan Priddy 13, Angelo Collins 2. Totals: 21-12-56.
Three-point goals: LS – Foster 3, Wilson 2, Greer 1, Hampton 1; LCC – Priddy 2.
Records: LCC 18-2; Lima Senior 13-9.
