Birkir Vidisson knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game at 38 with 50 seconds remaining in regulation. The Grizzlies took the ball up the court intent on holding the ball for one last shot. 

The Black Knights had no room for error; those 50 seconds could define their season.  One missed assignment, one mental lapse, one trip or spill one foul and the game is over.  Chuckey-Doak was perfect for 50 seconds, holding the Grizzlies scoreless to earn four overtime minutes to end the 23 year drought.

The Grizzlies twice called timeout in the final span in an attempt  to set up their game-winning play, and twice they were shut down by the Black Knights.  With 7.2 seconds remaining, Grainger inbounded the ball for the last time in regulation and Chuckey-Doak didn’t give them an inch.  Bailey Lamb was forced to throw up a desperation jumper fading away into to the right corner with Cory Swinney’s hand in his face.

Chuckey-Doak point guard Garrett Johnson said, “That was big. We knew we had to make a stop and Cory Swinney did a great job on his man in the last seconds and didn’t allow him to get a good shot.”

In overtime, Swinney knocked down a jumper from the top of the key to put Chuckey-Doak up by three. The next trip down the court Johnson drove into the lane and elevated to drop the ball off to Josh Lamb, who laid it off the glass for a 44-39 advantage.

Swinney and Lamb led the Black Knights in scoring with 15 points a piece.

With eight second left in overtime and the Black Knights up by three, Ben Gridley sealed the game with a steal outside of the Grizzlies’ three point line. He quickly moved the ball up the court to Swinney, who attempted a shot that was counted after a Grainger goal tend.

The third quarter was when things started going Chuckey-Doak’s way as they frustrated the Grizzlies with their press and almost doubled their first half offensive production by pushing the tempo.

“There at the first,, we were playing their game,” Swinney said.  “In the second half we started playing our game and you saw that. That is what carried us to the win.”

Taylor Johnson started the third by knocking a pair of mid-range jumpers. Garrett Johnson finished the quarter with six points and the Black Knights turned a one point deficit into a two point advantage by the end of the frame.

Logan Bates kept Grainger in the game  as the post scored eight third-quarter points as part of a 13-point contest.

In the fourth quarter Chuckey-Doak was able to increase its margin to as many as five points when Gridley knifed his way through the lane for a layup with 2:38 remaining.

Grainger would follow with seven consecutive points to take its first lead in 12 minutes, before Vidisson went to the free throw line and the Black Knights’ defense held strong.

The game did not start as well as it finished for Chuckey-Doak. Grainger tried to slow the pace and work the ball inside.  The strategy resulted in little offensive production but the Grizzlies held an 8-6 lead after one quarter of action.

The pace stayed slow in the second quarter and the teams continued to methodically go back and forth as the Grizzlies went into halftime up 18-17.

C-D 6 11 14 7 11 49

GHS 8 10 11 9 6 44

GRAINGER (44): Logan Bates 13, Corey Bates 11, Cabbage 7, Lamb 5, Moran 4, Jarrod Brown 4.

CHUCKEY-DOAK (44): Cory Swinney 15, Josh Lamb 15, G. Johnson 7, T. Johnson 4, Vidisson 4, Taylor 2, Gridley 2