Friday, January 28, 2005

3-pointer lifts Cutthroats 61-58 (OT)

Tight boys' battle settled by long bomb


A.J. Beesley was the wild card—and the Cutthroat senior played his card perfectly at the overtime buzzer of Tuesday's thrilling Northside Conference boys' basketball game between The Community School and favored Carey at The Fish Tank in Sun Valley.

Beesley, whose transition basket enabled the Cutthroats to get into overtime, drilled a long, clutch 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the four-minute overtime period, lifting The Community School to an extremely rare 61-58 win over Carey.

It was only the fifth Cutthroat varsity win over Carey, in 28 clashes. The Cutthroats (8-6, 6-4 league) posted their third straight win while Carey (11-6, 7-2 league) dropped its second game in the last three outings.

Cutthroat coach Mike Wade, acknowledging that his team rarely beats Carey, said, "What a way to end a game! A.J. was under pressure by Carey's defense, but he had a good look at the basket and he made it.

"Carey is always so tough and plays with such intensity. But our guys really stepped up in overtime. They looked for and found the open man, made their shots and played tough defense."

The short and scrappy Carey defense, battling to stay afloat against Cutthroat senior big men Andrew Durtschi and Hunter Smith, had almost no answer for the quickness and jumping ability of 6-1 Beesley.

Beesley (10.2 ppg), one of four Cutthroat seniors averaging in double figures, scored a season-best 21 points with 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots. He led the Cutthroats to a 23-22 half-time lead with 11 of his points in the first half.

But Beesley's two biggest baskets were his final two of the tight contest, which had 13 ties, seven lead changes and 39 turnovers to spice it up.

After the Cutthroats erased a 46-40 Carey lead with a 10-0 run midway through the fourth, the Panthers fought back with a rare 3-pointer by leading scorer Tadd Green (12 points, 8 rebounds). The basket sliced the Cutthroat lead to 50-49 with 1:33 left.

Two missed free throws by Carey gave the ball back to the Sun Valley boys—and Panther coach Dick Simpson ordered his defense into its feared full-court press. From the sideline, Cutthroat senior co-captain Connor Wade air-mailed an inbound lead pass to Beesley, who out-ran the Carey defense for the fast-break basket and a 52-49 lead with 0:33 on the clock.

There was no quit in either team.

Carey 5-5 sophomore Allen Peck, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half to lead the Panthers, was the second option after the Panthers couldn't get the ball to junior Tyler Cook in the final countdown. Peck took an off-balance 3-pointer that swished into the net for a 52-52 tie.

Coach Wade didn't mind being in the extra session.

Glad his team was still playing, he said, "Turnovers were really costly to us in the fourth quarter and we were also missing easy shots. I was amazed we were ahead, and I thought we were lucky to get into overtime."

Brad Hunt (8 points, 4 rebounds, 6 steals) canned an 18-footer for a 54-52 Carey lead in OT. Christian Cairncross found Durtschi in the low post for a 54-54 tie, and Durtschi returned the favor with a pass to Connor Wade, who scored low for a 56-54 lead. Then Green tied it 56-56, down low.

Once more, Durtschi was tough near the basket on a pass from Connor Wade and the Cutthroats led 58-56. Green made two charities to equalize at 58-58. It set the stage for Beesley's heroics, but his shot wasn't really the first option for Wade's team.

"Carey's defense was so tough and they disrupted our timing for the play we were going to run. I thought, now we've just got to get the shot up," said Wade, very pleased Beesley did.

Durtschi (12.9 ppg) ended with a game-high 22 points plus 11 rebounds. Connor Wade (10.8 ppg) had 9 points, 7 boards, 5 steals, 8 assists and 2 blocked shots. Hunter Smith (10.9 ppg) added 7 points and 5 rebounds. Kevin Wade chipped in 4 assists.

The Cutthroats shot 9-for-10 at the free throw line, a season best.

For Carey, Tyler Cook added 12 points and 9 rebounds, Devin Simpson 6 points and 2 assists, Cody Baird 5 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, and Bryan Hill 2 points.

A big key for the Cutthroats was holding Tadd Green to six points below his season scoring average. 6-3 Durtschi and 6-2 Smith played excellent defense to hold 6-3 Green down, and Kevin Wade was tough on Cook.

"We prepared well. Tadd Green is a handful and there was just no way one guy could hold him down. I thought we had to do the job with man-to-man defense and we stayed with it the whole game," Wade said.

Carey hosts Dietrich (5-12, 3-7) tonight, Friday and entertains league-leading Richfield (14-2, 9-0) next Tuesday. The Community School goes to Bliss (0-12, 0-9) Tuesday.

Junior varsity outcome

It was an unprecedented sweet sweep for the Cutthroats Tuesday.

Coach Jim Carkonen's Community School boys' JV (11-5 overall, 9-2 league) stayed hot Tuesday with a 44-35 win over Carey's JV (8-8, 6-5 league), coached by Danny Simpson.

In a preview of what could be a first-round match-up in the four-team Northside JV tournament, the Cutthroats built a 25-17 half-time lead and stayed tied with Richfield atop the standings of the eight-team JV loop.

Spencer Harris scored 12 points, J.P. McNeal 9 and Max Harris 8 for the Cutthroats. For Carey, D.J. Simpson and Kade Peterson had 12 points apiece, and Tyler Parke 8.

Over two decades of basketball, the Cutthroats had been 3-33 in JV games played against Carey dating back to the 1980s, including a loss earlier this year. It was the first time the Cutthroats had ever swept the Panthers in JV and varsity games played on the same night.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.