Howard confidently sank both free throws and the Big Blue went home with a 74-72 boys basketball win from Wade E. Miller Gym. Tyrique James made sure the lead held up with a steal on the in-bounds play, closing the books on a game that lasted two hours and 20 minutes.
“I was tired and ready for the game to be over, but in my head, when he fouled me, I said, ‘That was a dumb foul. I’m going to knock these down,’ ” Howard said. “The first two I missed before those, I already knew my elbow wasn’t in, so I made sure it stayed tucked and finished through.”
Hamilton (5-6, 4-3 Greater Miami Conference) had led almost the entire game through regulation, up by 14 points in the third quarter and 35-23 going into the fourth, before Middletown (4-6, 4-3) made a furious rally.
The Middies turned up the pressure down the stretch and started seeing the payoff from going hard to the rim to take their first lead at 44-43 with 51.9 seconds left in regulation. They capped an 11-0 run, during which Hamilton struggled with turnovers on bad passes, to make it a three-point lead moments later on a pair of Jomar Bailey free throws.
Middletown was seconds from celebrating a hard-fought victory when Hamilton missed a shot in the closing seconds, but D’Marco Howard somehow came up with a long rebound and drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
The Middies had chances to win at the line in each of the first two OT periods and let go of a 65-56 lead in the final 50 seconds of the third overtime as the Big Blue took advantage of more misses at the line to come back.
“I will give our guys credit for one thing: They were resilient and they fought,” Middletown coach Darnell Hoskins said. “There were several times they could have laid down and gave up, but they showed some fight. It was just disappointing we didn’t close once we did fight back. We had several opportunities, up big in (the third overtime) and we didn’t make free throws to seal the game, which was extremely disappointing.”
Hamilton’s Daniel Brunck extended the game into a fourth overtime with a pair of free throws with 4.9 seconds left, and the teams battled back and forth in the final extra period before Myles Howard finished it off.
He had missed two freebies with 54.3 seconds left and his team up 72-70, then watched Cliff Snow tie it up again, giving the Big Blue 13.4 seconds to make something happen.
“We had confidence in our scouting report and our team to finish, and that’s what we did,” Myles Howard said. “It took four extra quarters, but we got it done. It feels good.”
He finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Jaylen Robinson led the way with 28 points, including 17 in regulation. D’Marco Howard added 14 points and Hunter Hamilton had a game-high 14 rebounds, despite Middletown outrebounding the Big Blue 53-38.
Snow, held scoreless in the first half, paced Middletown with 22 points and 13 boards, and Bailey had 20 points and nine rebounds. Nelson Rutledge added 13 points.
“That was the most incredible high school basketball game I’ve ever seen, coached or been a part of … both teams,” Hamilton coach Sean Van Winkle said with what little voice he had left. “Credit to Middletown. Darnell (Hoskins) does a great job, they did a good job doing some things, and we made some plays. It was just an incredible win.”
Hoskins said his team didn’t deserve to win after going 24 of 43 at the free-throw line and especially considering how poorly the Middies started the game.
Hamilton had opened the scoring with 13 straight points, including a trio of 3-pointers, before Middletown got on the board with a bucket at the end of the first quarter.
The Middies cut it down to a seven-point gap early in the second quarter and trailed 21-14 at halftime, but not before rallying back from Robinson’s personal 6-0 run to make it 19-6 with 2:30 left. Robinson had 11 points in the first half.
Middletown then drew within four to start the third quarter, but HHS responded with a 10-0 run to keep its distance until the fourth-quarter comeback.
“I didn’t think we did a particularly good job of coming out with a disposition to dominate from the start of the game, which was disappointing,” Hoskins said. “You’re at home, you’ve got to rock this crowd behind you. You want to take advantage of that. We came out flat. I didn’t think we had the best day of practice the day before, so it was kind of indicative of the way we practiced I guess, which is a me thing. I have to make sure our practices are worthy of our game starts.”
The Middies return to action Monday in the Flyin’ to the Hoop at Fairmont’s Trent Arena, facing Alter at 8:15 p.m. Hamilton will travel to Talawanda on Tuesday.
Hamilton 13-8-14-11-3-4-13-8—74
Middletown 2-12-9-23-3-4-13-6—72
HAMILTON (5-6, 4-3 GMC): Daizure Morris 2 1 6, Tyrique James 1 0 3, Jaylen Robinson 10 3 28, Daniel Brunck 0 2 2, Myles Howard 4 4 12, Hunter Hamilton 3 0 8, D’Marco Howard 5 1 13, Cameron Benson 2 0 4. Totals: 27-11-74
MIDDLETOWN (4-6, 4-3 GMC): Nelson Rutledge 4 4 13, Cliff Snow 8 4 22, Christian Strother 2 1 5, Colin Isaacs 1 0 3, Broderick McGhee 0 4 4, Jawunn Bailey 1 2 4, Shandon Morris 0 1 1, Jomar Bailey 6 8 20. Totals: 22-24-72
3-pointers: H 9 (Robinson 5, D. Howard 2, Morris, James), M 4 (Strother 2, Rutledge, Isaacs)
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