No Time Remaining: Chargers Win on Miles Kading Free Throw

If Charger fans didn't get enough drama in the ACGC girls' 52-49 overtime win over Pleasantville Monday night, then they should be satiated following the boys' 53-52 win that was decided AFTER the final buzzer sounded.

With the score knotted at 52 apiece and with only seconds to go, Miles Kading fired a three point try from twenty five feet, and was fouled as the buzzer sounded. So now the pressure was on the Charger junior as he stepped to the free throw line. He has three tries to win the game. The first shot hit the rim, but fell helplessly to the floor. The second attempt was successful, making the third try unnecessary and the Chargers had pulled off the one point win.

The game didn't start out as it ended, with the Trojans racing to a 19-6 lead after the first quarter. It took three and a half quarters for the Chargers to erase the big deficit and take its first lead at 48-46 on Clayton Wardyn's second consecutive trey with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

ACGC was forced to chip away at the Pl'ville lead throughout the game, closing the gap to ten at 30-20 heading into the halftime intermission. A seventeen point third quarter cut the deficit in half to five points at 42-37. Miles Kading netted six points on two treys while Charlie Crawford came up with five points in the quarter.

With the Trojans holding onto a six point lead at 46-40 with 6:14 showing on the clock, the Chargers went to work and tallied ten consecutive points over the next two plus minutes to take a 50-46 lead. In addition to Wardyn's three pointers, Charlie Crawford and Lucas Marsh each scored a basket during the run.

Marsh added another hoop while the Trojans added six points to its score to tie the game at 52-52. Following an ACGC time out, the Chargers worked the ball looking for a good shot. The best they could come with was an open twenty five footer by Eli Kading. Miss.

Somehow the ball once again wound up in Kading's hands and he cast another errant twenty five footer. But he was fouled. Twenty five feet from the basket on a shot that had a less than 25% chance of going in! Since he was fouled in the act of shooting, Kading had three chances to score a point and win the game. Now he has a better than 75% of making one of the three. And, as mentioned previously, he made the second free toss to give the Chargers a the one point win at 53-52.

"We struggled at both ends of the floor early and just seemed a little off our game for most of the first half," Charger mentor Lance Kading said following the hard fought win. "The second half was just enough better that we were able to erase their halftime lead and put ourselves in a position to possibly to win the game.

"From there a number of guys made big plays on offense and defense in the fourth quarter.

That's what's special about this group. These guys find was to get it done."

Three Chargers scored in double figures, led by Miles Kading with 15. Brother Eli had 12 and Lucas Marsh scored 11. Charlie Crawford came up with 6 rebounds, while Lucas Marsh had 4 assists.

Team stats show that ACGC made 38% of its field goal tries on 21 makes out of 55 attempts.

That figure includes 8 of 32 from beyond the arc, and 13 of 23 from inside the arc. The Chargers were 3 of 6 from the free throw line. Pl'ville connected on 17 of 23 two point attempts, and was 5 of 19 from the three point line.

The Chargers are now 15-4 on the season with two regular season games remaining. The team has exceeded last year's ACGC record (which was 10) for wins in a single season.

Score by quarter:

ACGC 6 14 17 16--53

Pl'ville 19 12 7 10--52

Individual statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) EKading (12-1-3-0) BMarsh (0-1- 2-0) Crawford

(9-6-3-1) LMarsh (11-5-4-1) MKading (15-3-1-3) Wardyn (6-3-1-1) Littler (0-1-2-1)