ONTARIO — Clear Fork tightened its grip on the top spot in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, but not before Ontario put a scare in the Colts.
Chance Barnett scored 20 points, including what proved to be the game-winning bucket in overtime, and Clear Fork escaped with a 53-48 win at the O-Rena on Saturday.
The Colts (15-3, 11-0) won their 10th straight game and maintained a one-game lead over Marion Pleasant (14-3, 10-1) with three conference games remaining. Clear Fork hosts Pleasant next Friday and still has another meeting with the Warriors (9-6, 8-3) on Feb. 20.
“This one is big because it’s on the road and they set the standard so high with all the success they’ve had over the years,” Clear Fork coach Steven Bechtel said. “I’ve had my butt kicked many times in this gym. It’s nice to come over here and get a win, but nothing is over yet.”
The Colts jumped out to a 16-8 first quarter advantage and led by as many as 11 points after a Barnett layup midway through the third quarter, but the Warriors began to chip away and trailed 38-32 going to the fourth quarter. Ontario took a 46-45 lead, its first since midway through the first quarter, on a Griffin Shaver layup with 1:20 remaining. It would stay that way until Clear Fork’s Brennan South hit the front end of a one-and-one with 26.2 seconds remaining. South misfired on the second and the game was headed to overtime.
“On nights like tonight when we gave up a pretty big lead and things weren’t going our way, it would have been easy to fall apart,” said Barnett, who was an efficient 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. “We might have lost a game like this in the past, but we are a more mature team now.”
The Colts took a 48-46 lead on a pair of A.J. Blubaugh free throws with 2:38 remaining in the four-minute extra session. An offensive rebound and outback by Ontario’s Jayden Jacobs knotted the score at 48-48 with 44 seconds remaining before Barnett converted on a driving layup with 33 ticks left. Brennan South hit a pair of free throws with 13.4 seconds left for a 52-48 lead and split a pair of freebies to seal it with 2.8 seconds left.
“We persevered and maintained poise through everything,” Bechtel said. “Maybe earlier in the year we might have given that up but we have matured as a team.”
South finished with 12 points for the Colts. Jared Schaefer had seven points and seven rebounds, while Brady Tedrow added seven points.
Shaver led Ontario with 13 points. Logan Jones had 11 points and six rebounds, while Jacobs had eight points and nine boards.
Ontario has lost three of its last four games, all at home. Those losses were by a combined 14 points.
“We know our kids have fight in them,” Ontario coach Joe Balogh said. “We’re in a situation where we’ve got to keep fighting. It will be difficult for us to get back in the championship (race), but I think we’ll be a team that will help decide who wins it.”
