— By Greg Carey & Joe Brocato
RACHEL, W.Va. — With Monday’s game against Fairmont Senior tied at 43 and time winding down, North Marion got the ball to its top scorer Gunner Murphy.
Murphy tried to create from the top of the key, but his contested jumper fell off the mark.
Fortunately for the Huskies, 6-foot-6 Praise Chukwudozie soared for the rebound and a putback dunk with 3.6 seconds left to lift North Marion to a 45-43 victory over the Polar Bears.
“Praise did an excellent job of following that thing up and timed it just right,” Huskies’ head coach Chris Freeman said. “They didn’t check out and fortunately we finished with a dunk. It’s an exciting win and if you weren’t here tonight, you missed a pretty good basketball game.”
Fairmont Senior (2-4) had one last chance, but Murphy stole Bryson Flowers’ inbound pass to seal the win.
“Anytime you can defeat a county rival with the gym packed, it’s always a big win,” Murphy said.
Flowers’ 3-pointer tied the game with 31 seconds left and set the stage for the finish.
The Polar Bears battled from a late 42-36 deficit. After a Cruz Tobin 3 gave the Huskies (6-0) the six-point lead, Trey Washenitz got a leaner to fall and Jaelin Johnson scored inside to trim the deficit to two.
Michael Garrett split two free throws with 46 seconds left. The foul that sent Garrett to the line was Johnson’s fifth personal, fouling out the Polar Bears’ top player who finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Still, Flowers was able to free himself open on a pump fake and drain the clutch triple on the ensuing possession.
Murphy scored 12 of his 14 first-half points in the second quarter, including a 3 at the buzzer that sent North Marion into halftime with a 22-17 lead.
Johnson accounted for all but seven Polar Bear points at halftime.
“We’re not understanding time and score,” Fairmont Senior head coach David Retton said. “We’re not understanding movement. We’re still working at it.”
Both offenses picked up the production in the third quarter, which saw the Polar Bears quickly get even at 22 after Johnson’s layup and a 3 from Flowers.
Chukwudozie reeled off five unanswered points to give the Huskies their five-point edge back, and Murphy scored six straight points a short time later to up the lead to 33-24.
The Polar Bears, however, closed the third on a 6-0 run to draw to within 35-32.
After committing 10 turnovers in the opening half, the Polar Bears didn’t have any in the third quarter among their four in the second half.
“We certainly made improvements in the second half with turning the ball over,” Retton said. “But it’s hard when you have four turnovers in the fourth quarter. You feel like you’re working against yourself.”
Murphy finished with team highs of 21 points and nine rebounds, while Chukwudozie added nine points and five rebounds. Garrett contributed seven points and seven rebounds.
“I thought Gunner did a good job of picking and choosing his times to try and go at (Johnson),” Freeman said. “He tried to get him in foul trouble and we finally got him out late and maybe that was the difference. They had nobody to box out Praise and he got that dunk.”
Washenitz had nine points and six boards, while Flowers finished with six points and eight rebounds to help the Polar Bears outrebound the Huskies, 37-29.