The Tyrone Golden Eagles played from behind for most of the game on Monday night vs the Central Mountain Wildcats. Down by two with only seconds remaining, senior Jake Meredith sank two free throws to send it to overtime.

Not to be upstaged by his teammate, senior Parker Mitchell did something even more heroic in the extra frame.  Mitchell cashed in from deep with on buzzer-beating three in overtime to secure a thrilling 70-69 overtime win.

“As it left his hand, I knew it had a chance,” said Tyrone Head Coach George Gripp of Mitchell’s game-winning shot. “Over my 12 years of coaching, I have been on the other side of those kinds of shots. It certainly felt great to have one go our way.”

With only 4.4 seconds left in the game, Mitchell took the inbound pass from the far end line from freshman Blaine Hoover and sprinted down the right side of the court, looking for junior Andrew Ferguson in the corner.

“We set that up so [Parker] ran a loop cut, so he was heading up the floor on the catch,” said Gripp, “We had Andrew Ferguson in the corner for the shot, we thought his guy would step up to stop the ball.  Luckily Parker saw he wasn’t going to have enough time for the pass and ended up shooting it before the buzzer sounded.”

Mitchell and senior Dylan Thomas finished with 20 points and 25 points, respectively. Senior point guard Jake Meredith finished with 12 points as well.

“It was anyone’s game, we just wanted it more,” said Mitchell after making the game-winning three.

The final score was 70-69, and it was a very close game throughout the contest, Central Mountain would nail a three, and then Tyrone would respond with a three of their own.

For Central Mountain, seniors Matthew Storeman and Trevor Hanna each scored 23 points.

The key to victory for the Golden Eagles was getting opposing players in foul trouble. On the other hand, the Wildcats also got the Golden Eagles in foul trouble. Three starters ended up fouling out and a lot of the foul-calling was rather controversial.

Another factor that helped the Golden Eagles reach victory was their effectiove ball movement. Tyrone could get to the rim easily, and that opened up a lot of looks for the Golden Eagles shooter, Dylan Thomas.

Freshman Damon Gripp also came alive in the third quarter, going on a 6-0 run of his own.

The Golden Eagles added on to their winning streak to make it eight in a row. Their next game is Wednesday against Central. Tip-off is at 7:30.

BOX SCORE

CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (69): McCann 11 1-2 23, Pentz 0 2-4 2, Jones 4 0-0 8, Storeman 5 11-16 24, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Adair 0 0-2 0, Skrtish 2 3-3 9, Hanna 1 1-2 3.

Totals – 23 18-29 69.

TYRONE (70): Taylor 0 0-0 0 , Mitchell 7 1-1 16, Meredith 4 4-7 12, Lucas 0 0-0 0, Gripp 4 0-0 8, Hoover 0 0-1 0, Hicks 0 0-0 0, Ferguson 4 0-1 8, Thomas 9 1-2 25, Moon 0 0-0 0, Politza 0 1-2 1.

Totals – 28 7-14 70.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Mountain 16 15 13 16 9 — 69

Tyrone 12 16 15 17 10 — 70

3-point goals: Central Mountain 5 (Storeman 3, Skrtish 2); Tyrone 7 (Thomas 6, Mitchell).

Records: Central Mountain (7-4, 5-2 Mountain League); Tyrone (11-2, 7-1).

JV: Tyrone 70-26. High scorers–Taylor-Moon, T, 12; Fisher, CM, 9.