Falcon boys fall in double overtime thriller

Two dramatic comebacks were not quite enough for the Abbotsford boys basketball team to claim their second win of the season. The Falcons came up just short on the road, falling to the Spencer Rockets 74-69 in double overtime.

Abbotsford started the game off hot as they have in several recent games, jumping out to a 12-2 lead behind the offensive efforts of Adam and Brandon Diedrich. The Falcons 1-3-1 defense made things difficult for Spencer, creating turnovers and empty possessions early for the Rockets. After a timeout, the home team was able to create some open looks for their top scorer this season, Jonathan Jonas, who went on a solo 7-0 run to bring the Rockets within three.

Despite Spencer finding some success on the offensive side of the ball, Abbotsford managed to hold onto their lead through much of the first half, drawing it back out to eight points with under five minutes left to play in the half. Another run by the Rockets late in the half, capped off by a two-point jumper from Connor Bacon, saw the game knotted up at 25-25. Brandon Diedrich finished off his excellent first half with another bucket for the Falcons to retake the lead, but what had once been a double-digit margin had been hacked down to one as the two teams headed to the locker rooms with Abbotsford up 27-26.

Coming out of halftime, good ball movement and purposeful drives to the basket helped Abbotsford to extend their lead to 35-28. Spencer refused to go away, however, and a back and forth battle saw the Rockets slowly but surely chipping away at the Falcon lead. A corner three from Spencer’s Madden Prybylski gave the home team its first lead of the evening, the Rockets going up 46-45 with seven minutes left in the game. It looked like Abbotsford’s second half woes that have plagued them as of late had returned in full force as Spencer took a 56-49 lead.

With the situation dire, the Falcons turned to their trio of senior leaders to try to get themselves back into the game. Brandon Diedrich started things off for the Falcons with a three, Adam Diedrich found some room to maneuver down low to get a bucket from the right block and Esteban Gomez connected on a floater in the lane to tie the game at 56-56. Both teams missed opportunities to potentially win the game from the free throw line and the game was sent to overtime.

Heading into the extra period, fouls had started to stack up for both teams, as evidenced by early exits by Adam Diedrich and Jonathan Jonas. With both teams missing key pieces of their starting lineups, they would have to try to find alternate solutions in order to come away with the victory.

Spencer started out fast, going up 6157 and setting themselves up for success, using free throws and offensive rebounds to take the overtime advantage. A steal from AJ Brodhagen cut that lead to two as he took it the opposite way to score the breakaway layup. As the clock dwindled below ten seconds, the ball found its way into Gomez’s hands, who slipped past his defender and hit his second clutch shot of the evening, powering through two more Rockets’ defenders to tie the game at 61-61 with three seconds left. Once again, the Falcons had clawed their way back from the brink of defeat to force another overtime.

The momentum once again failed to transfer over to the next period, and the Rockets claimed a 68-63 lead over the first three minutes of the second overtime. With less than a minute left to close the gap, Brandon Diedrich hit a three to get back within two. Made free throws from Spencer kept Abbotsford at arms length, but another three, this time from Grayson Totzke, kept the window open for the Falcons. Down 71-69 and with 16 seconds left on the clock, Abbotsford needed to get a steal or some help from Spencer at the free throw line. Unfortunately for the visitors, they did not get either, with Spencer hitting three more down the stretch and taking a 74-69 victory.

The Falcons drop to 1-8 with the loss and their schedule does not look to get any easier as the calendar shifts to 2023. Next up for Abbotsford is Marawood-North leader Athens, who the Falcons will host next Tuesday, January 3. Tip off is set for 7:15 p.m.