WEST ALEXANDRIA — Twin Valley South won both their games last week, but one of them was a little too close for comfort.
The Panthers went three extra rounds with Franklin Monroe, finally downing the Jets 57-53 in triple overtime on Tuesday, Jan. 23.
South went into the half down five before making a push in the second half to send the game into extra time.
“It was one of those things where I thought our effort was fine in the first half. But it was just fine. We didn’t play with much of a killer instinct,” said head coach Tony Augspurger. “It was the first time this year that I got after us at halftime that, if we want to be successful, we have to – I’m just a big believer that you can’t be afraid to lose but if you want to be pretty good then you have to hate to lose.”
Augspurger thought his team did a much better job playing with that mindset in the second half.
“We had plenty of chances to lose the game but we found ways to make sure that didn’t happen,” he said.
After four quarters of play, the game was tied at 44-44 before both teams only scored four points in the first overtime and were both held scoreless in double OT.
The Panthers finally posted nine points to FM’s four in the third overtime, putting the game away.
Jacob Bassler led all scorers with 28 points while Mike Meyers added 12 for South. JJ Utz added nine for South.
They then headed to Bradford on Friday, Jan. 29, playing without starters Utz and Winston Crosier, coming away with a 52-42 win.
The Railroaders used three triples in the final minute to close the deficit as well.
The Panthers started out slowly though, heading into the second quarter leading 6-5 before they began to separate themselves, outscoring Bradford 14-6 in the frame and taking a 20-11 lead into half.
Out of the break, they outscored Bradford 15-11 in the third before the Railroaders made it (slightly) interesting with a 20-17 fourth quarter.
“We did not play well. That’s a tough place to play. It can be hard to be focused there,” said Augspurger.
Heading into the final two weeks of the season, Augspurger wants to see his team come out with more energy and that ‘killer instinct’ he’s been talking about.
“I think a better start to our games would be good. We’ve been so offensively inconsistent,” he said.
They were scheduled to travel to Carlisle on Tuesday, Feb. 2, and will host Arcanum on Friday, Feb. 5, starting at 6 p.m. On Saturday, Feb. 6, they will host Dayton Christian with a 6 p.m. start time before finishing their season on the road against rival Tri-County North on Friday, Feb. 12.
