High school boys basketball: Oberlin rallies from 20 down, beats Firelands in overtime, 50-49

Amazing. That’s all you need to say about the Oberlin Phoenix and their comeback as they rallied from a 20-point first half deficit to beat the Firelands Falcons, 50-49, in overtime on Dec. 11 at Oberlin High School.

“We always preach to them that the game is never over. Sometimes it can just be talk until you’re put into that situation,” Oberlin coach Kurt Russell said. “The kids were put in the situation, they came back, and now I believe that every game we play we are able to come back and get a victory.”

In the second quarter, Firelands’ Dominic Januzzi nailed a 3-pointer to cap off a 13-1 run that gave the Falcons their biggest lead at of the game at 33-13 with 3:13 remaining in the half. The third quarter is when Phoenix made its move.

Oberlin (3-2) outscored Firelands 17-2 in the quarter and took the lead at 34-33 with 1:58 in the third on a two-pointer by Zion Hicks. It was the first lead the Phoenix had in the game and were up 36-35 heading into the fourth.

Firelands regained the lead and were up 46-42 with 1:41 remaining in the game after Jack O’Keefe nailed a two-pointer on an assist by Colin Myers.

Oberlin’s David Payne III was fouled on the ensuing possession and split the pair at the free throw line to trim its deficit to 46-43. Missing the second shot, Januzzi grabbed the rebound, and moments later, the Phoenix forced a Firelands turnover. On the next possession Hicks nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 46-46 with 44 seconds to eventually send the game into overtime.

“We started turning the ball over, they picked up the pressure a little bit and we couldn’t handle the pressure as well as we did in the first half and that allowed them to get their run,” Firelands coach Alan Januzzi said.

Firelands (2-3) had 11 turnovers in the game, six coming in the second half.

Oberlin’s Justin Smith carried the team in the second half, scoring 10 points, including hitting the game-winning basket with 1:55 left in overtime.

“I knew we needed it, somebody was going to score the bucket eventually. I just felt like I had to put myself in the situation to get this win,” Smith said. “We have a lot of goals we want to accomplish this year. We just need things to go our way. It didn’t go our way for a while but we handled the adversity real well and we pulled it out.”

Smith finished the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds and had three steals.

Payne III had nine points for Oberlin and Hicks chipped in with nine points. Myers finished with 20 points, shooting efficiently, going 10 of 19 from the floor. He also had four rebounds and two steals. Dominic Januzzi chipped in with 12 points and had five rebounds.