Wolverines Upset Bid Falls Short, Defeated by Deer Lakes In Overtime Thriller

Senior Joseph Roth eclipsed a career scoring milestone Thursday night, but the #9 seeded Wolverines were knocked off by defending champion Deer Lakes 39-38 in overtime on a buzzer beater.

The Wolverines led by as many as seven points early in the fourth quarter, and by as many as five points in overtime but missed layups and continued turnovers spelled doom for Ellwood City.

In the low scoring affair, Ellwood City overcame first quarter jitters and turnovers and used a late second quarter surge to earn a 18-17 halftime lead.

Roth scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the second frame. His coast-to-coast slam dunk in the third quarter helped spark the Wolverines to a 25-22 advantage and netted him his 2,000th career point.

After leading 29-22 in the fourth quarter, Deer Lakes rallied to knot the game at 32 with under a minute in regulation. After Roth was fouled in the final 10 seconds, he missed both free throws and a Lancer buzzer beater missed that forced overtime in the WPIAL quarterfinal contest.

The Wolverines jumped out to a quick advantage in overtime, but the defending Class-3A champion Lancers responded again, knotting the game at 37 a piece. Nate Williams connected on the first of two free throws with 15 seconds remaining and an offensive rebound game Ellwood City an opportunity to inbound with the lead. A long inbounds pass with under ten seconds remaining was deflected by a Deer Lakes defender and Lancers Collin Rodgers scored as time expired to cap the intense game.

Roth tallied 16 rebounds and five blocks in the contest. Roth becomes only the 7th player in Lawrence County boys basketball history to score 2,000 career points.

Ellwood City (16-8 Overall) next plays Derry Area in a consolation game on Saturday at Ellwood City at 12:00 p.m. This is WPIAL event no season passes or senior citizen passes are accepted for this game. Student ($5) and Adult ($7) Tickets will be available online thru GoFan at: www.gofan.co/wpial and all tickets sold at the gate will be $7.00.

Deer Lakes will meet #4 Neshannock in Monday’s semifinals.

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