YSE File Photo
It didn’t come easy, but they found a way to get it done. The Todd County Central Rebels will have back-to-back winning seasons. The Rebels guaranteed that with a 64-61 overtime road win at Russellville Monday night. The Rebels go to five games above .500 with the victory and only three regular-season games left on the schedule.
The game with the Panthers was a back-and-forth battle through the first half. The Rebels led 15-14 after the first quarter. The two teams scored the exact same number of points in the second quarter as Todd County Central inched the lead out to 30-28 at the half.
The Rebels got good first halves from Jamison Glass and Trayvon Foster. Glass had 11 first-half points, while Foster added eight for Todd Central.
Things stayed fairly tight through the first part of the third quarter. Todd Central’s defense sparked a bit of a run late in the quarter that saw the Rebels push the margin out to double-digits with the Rebels up 48-35 heading into the final quarter. The third-quarter finish for Todd Central was highlighted by a big Jamison Glass slam.
Russellville used its defense to get a quick four points to open the final quarter, prompting a timeout from Todd Central coach John Stigall. Whatever Stigall communicated to his team during the timeout was apparently effective, as the Rebels came out of the timeout and promptly ran the lead back out to 14 points.
But the Panthers would not quite go away that easily. A couple of made three-pointers and Russellville would have the lead down to eight inside the final four minutes of the game at 55-47. Things would get even tighter. Jayden Russell hit a jumper in the lane inside of two minutes and suddenly the lead was down to 55-51. The basket was Russell’s second straight down in the paint.
After a Todd turnover, Nick Woodard drove to the basket to and scored, extending the scoring run to 12-0 and cutting the lead to 55-53.
The Rebels missed another shot and the Panthers grabbed the rebound, leading Coach Phil Todd to use his final timeout with 39 seconds to go in the game. Octavious McKeage would end up with the ball in his hands and scored a spinning shot down in the lane with 11 seconds to go. Todd Central’s shot to try and win the game was off the mark and the teams headed off to overtime.
At this point, the momentum was firmly on the Russellville sideline as the Panthers scored the final 14 points of regulation to force the extra period. Russellville outscored the Rebels 20-7 in the fourth quarter.
Preston Rager finally ended the run with a free throw in the early moments of overtime. But Jayden Russell quickly came down the floor and scored to put the Panthers up 57-56. Another Rebel miss and another Russell basket and the Rebels were down 59-56 with 2:56 left in overtime, prompting a Todd Central timeout.
A Preston Rager layup after a Jamison Glass block would cut the Russellville lead to 59-58 inside the final two minutes. A Russellville foul then sent Trayvon Foster to the free throw line with 1:29 left in OT. Foster made both to put the Rebels up 60-59.
An Octavious McKeage putback sent Russellville to the front at 61-60, but not for long as Trayvon Foster drilled a corner three for the Rebels to make it 63-61 Todd Central. After Russellville missed a chance to tie, Preston Rager went to the line with 13.4 seconds left and a chance to make it very difficult on the Panthers. Rager made the second of two free throws to make it 64-61.
Nick Woodward would put up a three with four seconds to go, but the shot missed and the Rebels pulled down the rebound to finally put the Panthers away.
Trayvon Foster paced the Rebels with 23 points. Preston Rager chipped in with 15, while Jamison Glass added 13.
Octavious McKeage was the top scorer for the Panthers with 15 points. Nick Woodard was right behind him with 14.
The win was the second straight for the Rebels and improved them to 15-10 for the season. The Panthers drop to 7-15 with the loss.
TCCHS – 15 15 18 07 09 — 64
RHS – 14 14 07 20 06 — 61
Todd County Central – Foster 23, Rager 15, Glass 13, Whitlock 7, Strader 4, Smith 2
Russellville – McKeage 15, N. Woodard 14, Russell 10, Steele 8, McMurray 8, A.J. Woodard 4, Stovall 2
