Clyde hits buzzer-beating 3-pointer to rally past Upper 33-32

By LONNIE McMILLAN

Sports editor

CLYDE — Ember Andres found her shooting touch just in time for Clyde on Tuesday night.

Andres hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute, including the game winner just ahead of the buzzer as the Fliers topped Upper Sandusky 33-32 in nonconference girls basketball play at Clyde.

It seemed the Rams (4-14) were going to be the clutch shooting team when Lily Walton connected on a go-ahead 3-pointer and then Jillian Stansbery’s fourth trey of the game extended the advantage to four points, but Andres had other plans.

After missing her first six 3-point attempts of the game, Andres knocked down an open look that made it a 31-30 game with 35 seconds left.

“We’ve got to understand what beats us with a minute left and a four-point lead,” Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Vent said. “A 3 is going to hurt us more than giving up a 2. … I was trying to get our girls to get back and not be in our full-court pressure, and we just got caught in a scramble on that first 3.”

Walton hit the second of two free throws to put Upper Sandusky up by two a couple of seconds later.

Clyde (12-7) had to call out a timeout after getting trapped along the baseline with 17 seconds left, and in that time, Jerry Vent instructed his team to try to use the fouls it had left to give before the Fliers were in the bonus.

A couple of times, the Rams got their hands on the ball as it was passed around the perimeter, but the last time, it wound up in the hands of Andres in the corner, and her shot was pure.

“I told them in the timeout, we call it red,” Vent said. “That means we want to guard everything going to the rim, get it on to the perimeter and then make sure that we bump them to make them take the ball out again. We maybe got them a couple times there, and the ball bounced into one of their shooters’ hands, and that’s what basketball is. They made a play and got the win.”

A trio of freshmen led the Rams. Stansbery scored 14 points, while Walton had six points and six steals. Jayden Richards finished with five points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Offense, as often has been the case for Upper Sandusky, was hard to come by. It turned defense into offense at the start of the second half with back-to-back steals and layups by Stansbery and Walton before a Stansbery 3 quickly made it 22-15.

But after scoring seven points in two minutes, the Rams did not score again until four minutes were left in the game, with the Flyers going on an 11-0 run to end the third quarter with a 26-22 lead.

“That’s kind of the story of the season,” Vent said. “Our defense, we rely on that so much, and that got us the lead because we were able to create a couple quick turnovers and turn them into easy buckets for ourselves. We didn’t shoot it particularly well consistently throughout the game.”

Neither team scored in the fourth quarter until Richards got to the basket for a layup to make it a two-point game. Then came the back-to-back 3s that put the Rams on top.

After Ariah Farrar made a free throw for Clyde, Erica Ruhlen missed two and then Richards split at the line ahead of Andres’ first 3-pointer.

“We weren’t quite able to execute defensively at the end, and that’s something we really rely on,” Vent said. “That puts so much pressure on your defense when you can’t score the basketball. It’s just hard to see two 3s go in like that at the end of the game when you hold a team to 27 points the rest of the game.”

Clyde led 11-5 after one quarter and scored the opening bucket of the second quarter, but Ava Romich and Stansbery hit consecutive 3s before a Walton steal and layup that tied it at 13. The game was tied at 15 at halftime.

Reese Daniel had 12 points and Andres 10 points for Clyde, which played without leading scorer Taitum Jeffrey.

Both teams finished 11 of 38 (28.9%) from the field, but Clyde was better at the line, going 5 of 7 compared to Upper Sandusky’s 4 of 10.

Cece Alspach’s 10 points led the Rams to a 35-19 junior varsity victory.

The Rams play at noon Saturday at Mohawk.

UPPER SANDUSKY (4-14): Stansbery 5-0-14, Walton 2-1-6, Richards 2-1-5, Romich 1-0-3, McKinniss 1-0-2, Ruhlen 0-2-2. Totals 11-38 4-10 32.

CLYDE (12-7): Daniel 4-1-12, Andres 4-0-10, Davis 2-3-8, Ray 1-0-2, Farrar 0-1-1. Totals 11-38 5-7 33.

3-point goals: Stansbery 4, Daniel 3, Andres 2, Walton, Romich, Davis.

Score by quarters

Upper Sandusky          5             10          7             10          — 32

Clyde   11          4             11          7             — 33

Junior varsity: Upper Sandusky won 35-19.