By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
SWANTON (December 27, 2024) – At times the duel between Swanton’s Charlie Wood and Delta’s Tyson Bower was a game of “what you do, I can do one better”.
However, after Bower led a furious late fourth quarter comeback from a double-figure deficit, it was Wood and the Bulldogs who carried home a 61-59 triumph in the opening round of the Fisher Holiday Tournament at Swanton.
The heated contest had all the aura of a post season tournament game. The Bulldogs actually went away from Wood, as he scored just two points in the first while Swanton had misfire after misfire from outside the arc.
Evan Reinhard’s pair of foul line jumpers gave Swanton a 17-13 lead after the opening period, but Bower chopped that in half with a steal and score 34 ticks into the second.
Wood got loose for a dunk, Reinhard had a push off and score, and Gio Ruiz came off the bench to can a trio of triplicates to vault Swanton up 34-23 at half.
The teams traded hoops for the first five plus minutes of the third as Wood scored six points and Adam Lemon got a pair of layups sliding down the side of the key to maintain Swanton’s double digit margin, until Vinnie Martinez nailed a triple with 2:28 to go to slash the lead to 44-38.
Wood scored seven straight, including a three-point play to again boost the Bulldog lead to 51-41 after the third, and after Reinhard threw in a shot from the middle of the key with 3:00 on the clock in the fourth, Swanton still was up 58-49.
Bower’s triple 19 seconds later began a series of events that allowed the Panthers to cut into the Bulldog lead.
After Ruiz scored to make it 60-52, a Swanton turnover led to a second Bower triple in the quarter to slice the deficit to 60-55.
Martinez split a pair from the foul line with a minute left to get it to 60-56. Isaiah Bolyard went to the line with short time on the clock but missed the first and a Bulldog lane violation nullified the second shot, and Bower stuck another three-ball from the deep corner to chop the Swanton lead to 60-59 with 8.2 left.
The Panthers fouled Wood with 4.9 left, but he only converted 1-2 to leave the door open, however Bower’s long range shot with Bulldogs hanging all over him was short.
Wood had 24 on the night, 13 of those coming in the third quarter. Ruiz had 12 off the bench and Lemon 10 for Swanton.
Bower had 13 of his game high 30 in the fourth quarter. Martinez tacked on 10 for the Panthers who played a near perfect second half offensively with nary a turnover.
Delta had eight turnovers for the game while Swanton had 16.
