By: Nate Calvin
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
PETTISVILLE (January 11, 2023) – Pettisville fought back to force overtime and with the help of timely free throw shooting and rebounding, the Blackbirds survived 44-41 to move to 2-0 in the BBC.
Johnny Fenton’s interior bucket for Pettisville broke an early 2-2 tie before back-to-back scores by Zach Whitley would give the Eagles their first lead at 6-4.
Pettisville regained the lead on a free throw by Fenton and a jumper from Leppelmeier before Gage Kidston went 2/2 at foul line to put North Central back in front 8-7 to end the first quarter.
It was North Central with the first four points of the second frame thanks to a right-side jumper by Joey Burt and Whitley would score inside after a pretty spin move to extend the Eagles lead to 12-7.
After a Blackbird timeout, it was Leppelmeier going 2/2 at the charity stripe to stop the run but Ben Pettit buried a triple from the left corner to increase the Eagles lead to 15-9.
The teams each added two more buckets before halftime as Fenton and Leppelmeier scored for Pettisville while Burt hit a fade away jumper and Ethan Beard had a scoop and score to make it 19-13 North Central at the intermission.
The scoring pace picked up in the third quarter as Joey Ripke would get his first points of the night for Pettisville with a bucket from the foul line extended before Burt answered back with a jumper for the Eagles to make it 21-15.
Fenton would follow that by once again scoring inside but back came Burt with a triple from the top of the key to give North Central a 24-17 advantage, their largest of the game.
That set the stage for a 7-0 Pettisville run as Leppelmeier scored on a curl move, Ripke went 1/2 at the line, and Fenton had consecutives baskets down low to tie the game 24-24.
Out of a North Central timeout, the Eagles scored six straight points with a bucket and two free throws from Anton Hegler and Burt buried another jumper to push the lead to 30-24.
Hegler added another field goal before the end of the quarter and Pettisville countered with two free throws by Leppelmeier and Mason Wyse hit a layup just before the buzzer to cut the Eagles lead to 32-28.
The fourth quarter started with a 6-0 spurt by Pettisville to retake the lead 34-32 as Leppelmeier scored on a drive, Wyse converted a layup off a baseline out of bounds play, and Leppelmeier hit two more foul shots.
A Kidston bucket for the Eagles tied the game at 34 before Ripke connected on a triple from left wing to give Pettisville a 37-34 lead.
The Eagles used the free throw line to pull even again as a 3/4 stretch tied the game at 37 with 2:28 left in regulation.
Then a deliberate Pettisville possession ended in a turnover with Burt getting the steal and going coast-to-coast for the hoop and a foul to give North Central a 39-37 lead with 44.6 remaining.
Burt would miss the free throw, keeping the lead at two, and Leppelmeier drew a foul with 3.1 left and calmly drained two foul shots to tie the game and force overtime.
Pettisville won the opening tip and took nearly 2:00 off the clock before the Eagles would get a chance on offense, which came up empty.
Ripke and Burt would produce the first points of overtime as they each went 2/2 at the line to make it 41-41.
Pettisville would drain the clock before Ripke went back to the line with 12.1 seconds left and the score still tied.
Ripke made the first but missed the second, but the rebound was chased down by Creighton Aeschliman who was fouled.
Aeschliman missed both free tosses, but it was Kaleb Wyse with the offensive rebound for the Blackbirds this time and the ball would end up in the hands of Aeschliman again with 4.1 left.
This time, Aeschliman connected on both free throws to make 44-41 and Burt’s three-point attempt from the deep right wing to tie the game at the horn for North Central was short.
Leppelmeier finished with a game-high 18 points for the Blackbirds (7-4, 2-0 BBC), Fenton had 11, and Ripke tallied nine points, all after halftime. Burt had 17 for the Eagles (4-6, 1-1 BBC).
N. CENTRAL (41) – Burt 17; Douglass 0; Turner 4; Hegler 6; Kidston 5; Whitley 6; Beard 4; Hicks 0; Pettit 3; Totals: 13-2-9 – 41
PETTISVILLE (44) – Leppelmeier 18; J. Ripke 9; Aeschliman 2; K. Wyse 0; M. Wyse 4; Fenton 11; Totals: 13-1-15 – 44
N. CENTRAL 8 11 13 7 2 – 41
PETTISVILLE 7 6 15 11 5 – 44
JUNIOR VARSITY: N. Central, 38-21
GAME STATISTICS
N. CENTRAL: FG – 15/30 (50%); FT – 9/12 (75%); Rebounds – 16 (4 offensive); Turnovers – 10; PETTISVILLE: FG – 14/35 (40%); FT – 15/22 (68%); Rebounds – 21 (11 offensive); Turnovers – 8