Athletics News

Indians lose intense overtime game to White County

Tallulah Falls in dramatic fashion forced overtime on Tuesday, but lost against visiting White County in a 53-50 final. It took a Zakhar Valasiuk long-distance shot to send it to OT.

In the opening quarter, White County held a 5-0 lead before TFS got going. Triples by Jay Taylor and Hayden Bottle made it a 10-9 lead going into the second. That lead was equally slim at the break, 23-21 behind 11 points from Taylor. Neyo Bain hit a trifecta to open the third, and lifted TFS up by five. However, moments later Bain went down with an injury and would not return. Tallulah Falls trailed 36-33 heading into the fourth. 

TFS ran an inbounds play with 11 seconds to go in regulation, and Zakhar Valasiuk drained a corner 3-pointer to tie the game at 45 apiece with six seconds to spare. White County couldn't get a last-second shot to fall, sending the game to overtime. Once there, a Stevan Gabric driving layup ended a scoring drought of four minutes, and his steal and layup seconds later made it a 2-point game with 31.5 on the clock.

After a White County miss, the Indians had a chance to tie it at the line with Bootle. He missed both, but a loose ball went in Tallulah Falls' direction. Taylor got to the line after going up for a shot, and he made one to get within 51-50 with 6.1 seconds left. The Warriors hit both of their free throws, and a last-second 3-point attempt by Brian Neely hit off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Taylor led TFS with 22 points, including nailing a pair of shots beyond the arc. Gabric finished with eight, Bootle seven, Bain five, and four each for Valasiuk and Neely.

The Indians fall to 2-6 overall on the season following their sixth consecutive loss.

The JV Indians won 42-24 against White County, moving to 4-0 on the season. After a low-scoring first half of 16-14 in favor of TFS, the Indians pulled away, outscoring the Warriors 26-10 the rest of the way.