WILLOW WOOD — Symmes Valley's Asher Maynard laid in a bucket at the buzzer to cap off a thrilling 78-76 comeback win for the Vikings over the Coal Grove Hornets on Saturday night in an old-fashioned Ohio high school basketball barn- burner.
The game also featured a scoring duel between Symmes Valley's Smith with 44 points, and Coal Grove's Owen Johnson, who finished with 43 points.
But despite scoring all those points, neither senior would be the one to score the game-winner, but instead it would be a freshman.
Will Jones sank the front end of a two-shot bonus to give the Vikings a 76-73 lead with 16 seconds remaining.
But the seniors' second shot clanged off the back of the rim, and Owen Johnson grabbed the rebound and brought the ball up the court for a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Johnson's shot missed the mark, but teammate Bradley Klaiber was there to haul in the rebound and put back up a shot and draw a foul for an old-fashioned 3-point play.
Jones would foul out on the play, sending Maynard in to replace him.
Klaiber's free throw rolled around and into the bucket to knot the game up at 76-all with 7 seconds remaining.
Smith took the inbound pass and dribbled up the floor to the top of the key, but instead of pulling up and shooting, Smith found a wide-open Maynard all alone under the basket and the freshman big man laid it in as the horn sounded to give the Vikings the win.
Smith came out on fire to begin the game, scoring 18 points in the opening frame — including 3 trifectas in the period. By halftime, the senior guard had 28.
Like Smith, Johnson racked up 14 points in the opening period to give the Hornets lead 19-18 after one.
Johnson would score 5 of his 7 points from the foul line in the second, and teammate Kody Harmon would score 7 in the period to help Coal Grove take a 35-34 lead at the break.
Coal Grove (4-4) appeared as though they would pull away in the third, outscoring the Vikings 24-15 to take a 10-point lead into the fourth.
However, Smith and the rest of the Vikings began to catch fire in the final period.
The Vikings used a 12-2 run to climb back into the game and tie things up at 65-all when Tanner Corn nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:40 remaining.
Carpenter would later follow with a three ball of his own to give the Vikings a 70-68 lead and set the stage for the finish.
Tanner Corn finished with 11 points, Bronx Carpenter added 8, and Gradee Holland chipped in 6 for the Vikings.
Harmon finished the game with 13 for the Hornets.
Symmes Valley will be back at home against Oak Hill on Friday. Coal Grove will be at Chesapeake on Thursday.
Coal Grove 19 16 24 17 = 76
Sym. Valley 18 16 15 29 = 78
COAL GROVE (4-4): Noah Holmes 0 0 0-0 0, Rylan Smith 1 0 3-4 5, Braydon Klaiber 2 0 1-1 5, Bradley Klaiber 1 0 1-1 3, Kody Harmon 4 1 4-8 13, Cameron Chaffins 2 1 0-0 5, Jake Brammer 1 0 0-1 2. Owen Johnson 16 2 9-14 43. Totals: 27 4 18-29 76. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Braydon Klaiber.
SYMMES VALLEY (4-3): Gradee Holland 2 1 1-1 6, Ethan Smith 17 7 3-4 44, Tanner Corn 4 1 2-2 11, Bronx Carpenter 3 2 0-0 8, Will Jones 0 0 2-4 2, Noah Hutchison 0 0 0-0 0, Levi Owens 1 0 0-0 2, Asher Maynard 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 29 11 9-13 78. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Jones.
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