GREENVILLE – The Greenville Green Wave dropped a heartbreaking 51-50 overtime MVL varsity boys basketball decision to the visiting Fairborn Skyhawks on Saturday night.
Greenville surged to a 10-0 lead in the opening three minutes of the conference matchup, but Fairborn gradually worked its way back, outscoring the Wave 51-40 over the remainder of the contest.
“That should have been our game,” said Greenville coach Matt Hamilton. “Turnovers in the third quarter just killed us. We try to keep making the big play when we should instead be making the play we need to make, and that hurts.”
The Green Wave controlled the opening quarter, taking a 15-8 lead behind six points from Gage Denham, four from Johnny Barr, a Michael McMahon three-pointer, and a basket from Isaac Kerg.
Greenville continued to build momentum in the second quarter, outscoring the Skyhawks 15-11 to take a 30-19 lead into halftime. Five different Wave players scored in the period, led by McMahon’s two triples for six points and four from David Conway. Barr and Lucas Thorp each added a basket, while Flatter chipped in a free throw.
The momentum shifted after the break as Greenville struggled to find rhythm offensively. Fairborn took the third quarter 17-10, trimming the Wave’s lead to 40-36 heading into the final eight minutes.
Missed opportunities at the rim compounded Greenville’s second-half woes, and the Skyhawks continued their push by winning the fourth quarter 10-6, forcing overtime with the score tied at 46-46.
“We did a pretty good job of attacking the seams and getting in the middle the first half,” Hamilton said. “Then against the man defense, we just didn’t get into a rhythm, and the turnovers really hurt us.”
Greenville briefly regained the lead in overtime, going up 50-48 at the 2:09 mark, but Fairborn answered to knot the game at 50-50 with 30 seconds remaining. The Skyhawks sealed the win at the free-throw line in the closing seconds to escape with the one-point overtime victory.
Junior Michael McMahon led Greenville and all scorers with a game-high 19 points, including four three-pointers.
“We have different weapons offensively,” Hamilton added. “We knew coming in they were going to play a lot of zone, so we gave our perimeter guys opportunities to get some shots up.”
BOX SCORE:
FAIRBORN 51, GREENVILLE 50
FAIRBORN – B. Lambros 17, S. Asumani 11, D. Switzer 10, J. Parks 8, J. Knapp 2, L. Kennehan 2, I. White 1 – TOTALS 11 11-21 6 51
GREENVILLE – M. McMahn 19, G. Denham 7, J. Barr 6, I. Kerg 6, D. Conway 6, E. Flatter 4, L. Thorp 2 – TOTALS 13 9-14 5
3-POINTERS
Fairborn 6 (D. Switzer 3, B. Lambros 2, S. Asumani 1)
Greenville 5 (M. McMahon 4, E. Flatter 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
08-11-17-10-05 51 Fairborn
15-15-10-06-04 50 Greenville
