New Ken comes up shy in overtime

DUBOIS, Pa. – In a men's basketball overtime thriller on Saturday, Dubois went on a four-point run within the first 30 seconds that proved costly to New Kensington. Dubois ended the time outscoring New Kensington by those four points and grasped the home win, 96-92.

With this loss, New Kensington pushes back to 3-14 in the PSUAC and 4-19 overall, meanwhile Dubois advances to 8-9 in the conference and 12-11 overall.

New Kensington felt the pressure from Dubois during the first few minutes of the first half, as Dubois hit its largest lead, 17-6, at 15:21. New Kensington used the remaining time catching up to Dubois, which ended in its favor. Tavarski Wardlow (Round Rock, Tex./ Hendrickson) sunk a three-point jump shot to improve New Kensington's position to only one point shy of Dubois, 34-33, with two minutes to spare. With only a few seconds left of the half, Dubois was up by two, but Joseph Dusabe (Toronto, Ont./ Fox Chapel) put in a three pointer to give New Kensington the 38-37 advantage heading into the second half.

Wardlow and Jamison Nee (Natrona Heights, Pa./ Highlands) contributed greatly to this tight half, putting up 14 and 10 points respectively. New Kensington went 12-14 from the line, which pulled it ahead of Dubois who converted more field goals.

Dubois began the second half by tying New Kensington and surpassing it. Dubois kept its lead until Nee landed a three-pointer to knot the game at 50-50. Once again, Dubois broke away, but Jahi Ogbonna (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Allderdice) tied up the score, 61-61. With one second left in regulation play, Dubois was up 80-79, but Ogbonna put in a free throw to even out the contest, 80-80, and cause it run over into overtime.

Dubois attempted 29 field goals and managed to knock in 16. New Kensington went 13 of 30, with Nee contributing five during the half.

Dubois grabbed the lead right away in overtime, already ahead 84-80 within the first minute. Nee hit two from behind the arc, scoring half of New Kensington's points, and managed to make it a one-point contest with 24 seconds to go. Three free throws later, Dubois grabbed the win in overtime.

Nee reached a season high of 31 points to lead New Kensington. Nee added four rebounds, two assists, and three steals as well. Wardlow put up 18 points and had two assists. Leading with six rebounds and three assists, Ogbonna also totaled 10 points.

Cole Morris, Malik Gordon, and Russell Gariepy were Dubois' top scorers, posting 21, 20, and 19 points respectively. Morris also had the most assists, seven. Osagie Evbuomwan tracked down nine rebounds, while Gariepy and Mekhi Willis each had eight.

New Kensington will host Penn State Greater Allegheny on Wednesday at 8 p.m., while Dubois will stay home on Tuesday for a matchup with Penn State Fayette at 8 p.m.

Written by Janet Surma