PORT ALLEGANY — After letting an eight-point halftime lead slip away in the third quarter, Otto-Eldred head coach Dan Dalton had one simple message for his Terrors: Execute.
And in the end, that’s all it took for O-E to gut out a 57-51 road North Tier League win over Port Allegany on Thursday night.
The Terrors (5-1, 3-0) led by as many as 10 in the first half before a furious Gator (2-5, 1-2) rally knotted the game up at 34 entering the fourth quarter.
But, as Dalton wanted, the Terrors took care of business down the stretch as they forced multiple Port A turnovers, got better looks at the basket and grinded out the win.
“I just told (our players) we just have to execute. We just have to take our time and execute on the offensive end and not force shots,” Dalton said. “And I think we did a lot better job of that in the fourth quarter. We got a couple steals on defense and executed off of that.”
Steals on defense were perhaps the biggest momentum shifter of the night. Port Allegany finished with 18 turnovers compared to O-E’s nine, and those giveaways allowed the Terrors to either get easy layups in transition or maintain possession down the stretch.
To Port A coach Kyle Babcock, those giveaways combined with other mental errors such as taking contested shots made the difference.
“Just down the stretch, (it was) mental mistakes and tough shots — shots we shouldn’t be taking instead of working our offense,” he said. “A couple of times we forced it. It’s just frustrating… We just had mental breakdowns.”
It didn’t start that way for the Gators, though, as both teams came out firing in a frenetic first quarter that saw O-E take a narrow 16-14 lead. All five Terror starters scored in the period, while Port A’s Jordan Card and Howie Stuckey paced the Gators with five points each.
Stuckey finished the night with a game-high 20 points, while Card added 16, including nine in the fourth.
It was a step forward for a Port A team that had gotten off to too many slow starts this year, Babcock said.
“I thought the first quarter was the best first quarter we’ve had all season,” he said. “Usually, we’re chasing (and down) eight, 10 or 15 points. But we were down two after the first.”
Then, in the second, Port A grabbed its second lead of the night (the Gators led 2-0 to start the game) with a pair of Ty Guilds free throws to go up 19-18 with 6:55 to go in the half, before the Terrors answered with a 14-5 run to close the half out to go into the break up 32-24.
Three different Terrors scored during the run, and four scored during the quarter.
“We preach sharing the basketball, and we preach balance,” Dalton said. “It’s not a one-guy show or two-guy show. We look for all five (players on the floor) to score for us.”
The undeterred Gators, however, had other ideas in the third quarter, as O-E was held to just two points in the period while Port A put in 13 of its own. Stuckey made two of his five 3-pointers during the quarter, and the Gator defense had flipped the switch to force some Terror turnovers of their own.
“I think our defense was much better (in the third),” Babcock said. “We held (O-E) to two, and we started working the ball. When we worked the ball, we got open shots and were able to knock down open threes, and it got us right back in it.”
But in the fourth quarter, O-E, and Jake Merry specifically, took back over.
After Port A pulled ahead 41-40 on back-to-back Card treys, Merry answered with a three of his own to key a 9-2 run that put the Terrors back up 49-43.
Then, as O-E fought to maintain that lead, Merry went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, all of which came with under a minute to go, to preserve the win.
“That fourth quarter, I told (Jake), ‘Hey man, when you get a good look at a three, let’s hit one,’” Dalton said. “He’s one of those players that once he hits one, he feels good about himself. He wanted to answer Port Allegany, and I was fine with it.”
Merry finished the night with 13 points for O-E, as did Cole Sebastian. Sebastian also added seven rebounds and seven assists for the Terrors. Braden Maholic led O-E in scoring with 15 points and also pulled down seven boards.
Otto-Eldred, which has won four straight games, will enjoy a long break until a critical Jan. 2 matchup with Cameron County. Port Allegany is also off until that night, when it faces Smethport.
AT PORT ALLEGANY
Otto-Eldred (57)
Braden Maholic 6 0-0 15, Cole Sebastian 5 2-6 13, Jake Merry 3 4-4 13, Jimerson 2 3-4 8, VanScoter 4 0-0 8. Totals: 20 9-14 57
Port Allegany (51)
Howie Stuckey 6 3-4 20, Jordan Card 6 0-0 16, Ty Guilds 3 4-5 10, Guerrero 0 2-2 2, Edgell 1 1-3 3. Totals: 16 10-14 51
Otto-Eldred 16 32 34 57
Port Allegany 14 24 34 51
Three-point goals: O-E 8 (Merry 3, Maholic 3, Jimerson 1, Sebastian 1), Port A 9 (Stuckey 5, Card 4); Total fouls: O-E 16, Port A 16; fouled out: Carter Moses (PA)
JV: Port Allegany 42, Otto-Eldred 34
