Braves outlast Shamrocks in OT

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The old adage is that comedy is best in threes. It must have been open-mic night at Olentangy as the hosts and Dublin Coffman combined for 24 three-pointers in Saturday’s non-league game in Lewis Center.

Greg Hendrix, who missed the last couple of games because of a concussion, knocked down a pair of treys and scored 10 of his 25 points in overtime as the Braves held off the Shamrocks 88-80 to pick up their second win in as many nights.

“My shots have been falling,” Hendrix said. “(Coffman was) running that one-three-one (defense) and I was in that corner spot, and I felt like every time I could get a wide-open shot.”

Hendrix hit all five of his three-point attempts as Olentangy shot 13-for-24 (54 percent) from behind the arc.

“I’ve been itching to get back out there,” Hendrix said. “I couldn’t do much, but I could come in and shoot, so I was on the gun all day leading up to the game.”

It’s also the second straight night that Olentangy (4-5) scored 78 or more points – a stretch that came after it was held to its lowest output of the season in a 52-37 loss at Upper Arlington Tuesday.

“I think we can score the ball … I think we need to play better defense,” Olentangy coach John Feasel said. “We’ve got to make sure we hold people under 80.”

Jason Sieve followed his 35-point performance in a 78-73 win over Westerville Central with 25 points against Coffman Saturday.

“Really, I don’t know … everything just feels smooth, my confidence is up,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a good rhythm right now. I really don’t know … I’m at a loss for words. I’m just in a rhythm.”

And, again, because three’s a charm, Sean Marks was the third player on the team to top 20 points in the win, finishing with 22 to go with six steals and four assists – both team-highs.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can score … we have a different leading scorer about every night,” Feasel said. “Jason’s been hot lately, but I mean, tonight Hendrix and Sean … that makes us a little more difficult to guard and that’s a good thing.

“When they look at the scouting report and say that this guy can get us 20, it could be one of four or five guys on our team, which is good.”

Will Elmore chipped in eight points and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds for an undersized Olentangy team that won the rebounding battle 32-19. Jerred Kinnaird had five rebounds and Marks and Hendrix each added four.

Sieve finished with three assists and three steals for Olentangy.

Coffman’s Derek Van Vlerah tied the game at 73 on a three-point play to send it to overtime after he missed a pair of free throws on the previous possession.

Marks had some redemption as well, going 4-for-4 at the line to ice the game in the overtime period after he missed the front end of a one-and-one that led to Van Vlerah’s and-one.

Coffman had a 37-34 lead at halftime thanks to some hot shooting by Nick Carlson, who knocked down four of five three-point attempts.

Coffman led by as many as seven in the first half and as many as four in the third quarter before Sieve and Marks each knocked down triples on consecutive possessions to give Olentangy a 43-41 lead.

Olentangy led by as many as eight in the fourth before Carlson scored underneath on back-to-back possessions and tied the game 70-70 with his fifth three-pointer of the game two possessions later.

Carlson led the Shamrocks with a game-high 33 points, including five of the team’s 11 three-pointers.

Dominiq Penn finished with 13 points, Van Vlerah had 11 and Nick Mollica added 10. Penn and Trevor Grady had six assists apiece, Grady and Carlson had five rebounds each, Van Vlerah had three steals and Carlson had a pair of blocks for Coffman (4-5).

Olentangy travels to Big Walnut in non-league action Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Teams combine for 24 3-pointers

By Michael Rich

[email protected]

Follow Michael Rich on Twitter @mrichdelgazette.

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