Glenville-Emmons sophomore leads team past Alden-Conger in OT

Published 1:51 am Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The basketball court was Tyler Woodside’s stage Monday night.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore understudy came up with clutch basket after clutch basket when Glenville-Emmons needed it most in a 58-56 overtime win against Alden-Conger in Glenville.

The Wolverines (4-9, 2-6) lost starter and their top scorer in the game, Derek Sanderson, with 29.4 seconds left in regulation when he picked up his fifth foul.

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Enter Woodside stage right.

With Glenville-Emmons trailing 53-51, Woodside was fouled underneath the basket with 16.2 seconds remaining in regulation and he played the role of steely veteran at the line as he calmly sank both free throws to extend the game to overtime.

“I was a little nervous,” Woodside said. “I just tried to focus on making the shot.”

Woodside scored all five of Glenville-Emmons’ points in overtime to lead the Wolverines to victory. He hit a game-tying free throw in the extra session and then on the next trip down the court he scored the go-ahead basket on a jump shot. Woodside iced the game when Michael Thofson found him wide open down low for an easy layup to make the game 58-54 with 19.8 seconds remaining.

“He’s a stud,” Fredrickson said of Woodside. “For a sophomore to come in there and hit pressure free throws.”

Woodside finished the game with 10 points as Glenville-Emmons prevailed in a physical game.

Five players fouled out in the game. Jonathan Back, Lucas Kleinschrodt and Spencer Niebuhr all fouled out in regulation for Alden-Conger while the Wolverines saw Garret Schumaker and Sanderson foul out in regulation. The two teams combined for 51 fouls.

Knights head coach Bill Hintz said losing two starters and a post player like Niebuhr hurt his team during overtime. Alden-Conger also played without starter Travis Marth, who was out sick Monday.

Glenville-Emmons controlled the first half and entered halftime with a 12-point lead, but the Knights (4-12, 2-9) mounted a furious comeback effort.

“We came out and played with heart,”Hintz said. “The first half everything was in slow motion.”

Alden-Conger tied the game seven minutes into the second half on a 12-0 run and eventually grabbed as much as a five-point lead.

“I knew that we would have to weather that first punch,” Fredrickson said.

He did so by throwing multiple defenses at the Knights in the second half.

The Wolverine offense finally got going again when the team started feeding Sanderson in the post. Sanderson finished with a game high 17 points and converted a momentum-shifting three point play that cut the Knight lead to two with 8:13 left to play.

“The kids absolutely earned this one,” said Fredrickson, whose team had lost by 26 points to Alden-Conger at the start of fthe season.

Glenville-Emmons 58, Alden-Conger 56 OT

Alden-Conger 20 33 3 — 56

Glenville-Emmons 32 21 5 — 58

Alden-Conger scoring: Brandon McTague 14, Jonathan Back 11, Brad Ferree 10, Lucas Kleinschrodt 7, Jordan Mulso 7, Spencer Niebuhr 5, Tyler Adix 2.

Glenville-Emmons scoring: Derek Sanderson 17, Tyler Woodside 10, Garret Schumaker 9, Michael Thofson 8, Michael Adams 6, Jon Mittag 3, Ryan Dempewolf 2, Spencer Kral 2, Landon Hall 1.