The Cincinnatus Lions (#3 seed) defeated Town of Webb (#15 seed) in the semi-final round of the Section III Class D Sectional Tournament in overtime with a score of 66-58.
This is Cincinnatus’ second overtime win in the tournament, with their first win being against Madison (#6 seed) in the quarter-final round of the tournament.
Both teams started things off well in the first quarter, with Cincinnatus only being down by one point (11-12). The Town of Webb would go on to outscore Cincinnatus by five points in the second quarter to get a 6 point lead (24-30)
In the third quarter, the Lions came out roaring right back into the game to make it 42-40. Senior point guard Cason Stafford fouled out of the game just before the end of the third quarter, putting the Lions in a difficult position.
Nonetheless, adversity was not a problem for Cincinnatus, as their players pushed through and were able to win the game in overtime.
“At first I didn’t say anything,” said Cason Stafford. “I thought I let our team down, and I was honestly scared. A couple of plays later, we called a time out and I went out to our starters and said ‘boys you have to get this done for me. You have to give me another chance to get us in the finals’. I am grateful for them.”
“I was a little scared with the #15 seed coming out and taking a lead over us at the end of the half,” added sophomore Canden Stafford. “Then my brother (Cason Stafford) fouled out, who is our main provider and point guard. After that I feel like I played amazing and our whole team played amazing, and we came together to win it.”
The Lions were led by Scott Schuyler (25 points), Canden Stafford (17 points), and Tyler Liddle (9 points).
Town of Webb was led by Alex Williams (24 points), Roger McGrady (18 points), and Cedric Barkauskas (14 points).
After the game Scott Schuyler said that he felt “nervous” in the first half. “We were hitting shots, but they (Town of Webb) were not missing from the outside. They were shooting probably better than any other team I've ever seen in Class D. We switched to man-to-man in the second half, and I think it really helped us to win the game.
Up next, the Lions will play in the sectional finals on Sunday (March 6th) at the SRC Arena in Onondaga Community College. The game is scheduled to tip off at 11am.
According to Coach Halstrom, this is Cincinnatus’ first sectional final in almost a decade (nine years). "We look forward to it,” he then added.
Coach Halstrom closed by saying, "We were one man down (after the third quarter), but these guys came together in a beautiful way and made it happen."
Here are some photos of yesterday’s game:
