ACGC Boys Sneak Past Pleasantville, 59-57

If you were looking for some drama, then the place to be was in the ACGC gymnasium on Friday where the ACGC boys won a thriller over Pleasantville in a WCAC conference game. It came down to the final 6.6 seconds before the Chargers could claim the victory at 59-57.

ACGC's Jedd Weinkoetz had the hot hand in the opening quarter when he connected on four consecutive three pointers, helping the Chargers to a 21-14 lead by quarter's end. Ben Marsh picked up where Weinkoetz left off and hit three treys in the second frame to help the Chargers maintain a halftime lead at 42-37.

ACGC went cold in the third quarter as it scored just five points while the Trojans netted fifteen to take a 52-47 lead heading into the final frame. The Chargers went two for nine from the floor and Pleasantville went six for thirteen for the quarter.

The drama begins midway through the fourth quarter with the Trojans holding an eight point lead at 57-49 with under five minutes remaining in the game. The visitors failed to score for the remainder of the game and the Chargers began their final push to victory.

Weinkoetz' sixth three ball of the game got things rolling. Brock Littler followed that up with a trey that closed the deficit to two points at 57-55. Marsh's score with 2:55 to go tied the game at 57 each.

Neither team scored over the next two and a half minutes, as the clock clicked down to just over thirty seconds. A big hustle play by Miles Kading kept the ball in the Chargers' court. Kading missed a shot with forty five seconds to go, but raced to secure the rebound and give the Chargers another chance.

With the ball in Marsh's hands, the Charger junior missed a close in shot, but gathered the rebound for a second shot and scored to put ACGC in the lead at 59-57 with thirty seconds to go. A lot of noice coming from Charger fans.

The Chargers had committed only two fouls in the second half, so they could commit fouls to prevent the Trojans from shooting free throws and still have more fouls to give. And that is how the game played out. The Trojans were unable to score with their final shot missing with just under seven seconds to go. Kading secured the rebound and dribbled out the clock. Lots of noise from Charger fans!

Weinkoetz led the scoring for ACGC with a personal best of 20 points, while Miles Kading and Marsh also hit double figures with 10 and 16 points respectively. Kading's 15 rebounds gave him a double double. He nearly scored a triple double, as he dished out 8 assists. Marsh had 2 steals.

This game is the eighth game of the season that has been decided by five or fewer points for the Chargers. They have won six of the eight. In this observer's opinion, this should bode well for post season play, with many of those games being decided by narrow margins.

Charger mentor Lance Kading apparently agrees when he offered these comments. "That was a great game, win or lose. It helps us get ready for the post season. We like to win better, though."

The win improves the team's record to 16-4 for the season, with a 12-3 mark in the WCAC.

Score by quarter:

Pl'ville 14 23 15 5--57

ACGC 21 21 5 12--59

ACGC statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) Marsh(16-9-1-2) Mkading(10-15-8-1) NKading(4-4-0-0)

Littler(6-4-6-1) Weinkoetz(20-6-0-0) Solorzano(3-2-1-1) Bunde(0-3-1-0)