SHELBY — Nic Eyster refused to allow his senior basketball season to end Friday night.
The senior hit arguably Shelby’s two biggest shots of the season — both with less than 60 seconds on the clock — fueling the Whippets (15-8) 51-49 overtime victory over Ottawa-Glandorf (8-13) in a boys Division IV sectional final.
Eyster led the way with a team-high 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
After the Whippets found themselves trailing OG with under a minute to play, Eyster nailed a three from the corner to tie the game at 44.
Fast forward to OT and the senior delivered again, this time via a layup to give Shelby the lead 48-46 with 50 seconds remaining.
About 30 seconds later, Anderson Brubaker split a pair of free throws to extend Shelby’s lead to three with 14 seconds showing. After a quick OG bucket, junior standout Brayden DeVito made two free throws to keep the Whippets’ cushion at three.
The Titans still had a sliver of hope when Grady Toumazos was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 0.4 seconds left. The senior guard missed on his first attempt at the line and made the second.
Toumazos intentionally missed the final attempt in hopes of a putback, but Shelby senior Karsen Homan secured the rebound as the buzzer sounded.
The third-seeded Whippets will have a shot at redemption in a district semifinal on Tuesday when they face No. 2 Upper Sandusky in Findlay at 8 p.m.
The Rams (17-6) defeated No. 8 Clear Fork 63-41 in a sectional final Thursday night. Upper Sandusky beat the Whippets during the regular season 62-56.
Shelby takes game of runs
After falling behind 5-0, Shelby rattled off a 13-0 burst to end the first quarter with a five-point lead.
The Whippets followed their opening act with a 7-0 spree to begin the second quarter. OG took its turn next with a 5-0 answer in the back-and-forth affair. By the conclusion of the scrappy first half, Shelby led 29-22.
During the midst of a 9-2 flurry, the Titans tied things at 31 with 5:08 left in the third. OG took its first lead since the opening quarter with about 5:30 remaining in regulation, 38-36.
Shelby scored its first points of the fourth period at the 3:26 mark when Brubaker made a pair of free throws. A trey from Homan tied things at 41-41 with 2:21 to go.
Eyster’s heroics late in regulation sent the game to OT, where the senior was the first to score. OG’s Ross Maag tied the game at 46-46 with 1:20 remaining, but Eyster’s layup and DeVito’s free throws followed.
Playing through pain from an ankle injury sustained during the regular season finale, DeVito still finished with eight points, to go with two assists and a pair of rebounds.
Homan recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 boards, along with a block. Landon Foltz scored all of his 11 points in the first half, to go with three assists, a trio of steals and six rebounds.
Brubaker contributed three points, followed by Avery Lambert and Braxton Dawson who each finished with two.