The Northwest boys basketball team led the entire game Tuesday. That was until Marlinton's Austin Brady made a layup with 6.6 seconds to go. Michael Huberty added a free throw to make it a 63-61 final in favor of the Dukes.
The Marlington boys basketball team kept chipping away at the wall. With 8.6 seconds left in regulation, it finally came crumbling down.
Austin Brady's layup over two Northwest players underneath the basket gave the Dukes a one-point lead, and Michael Huberty's steal and free throw with 6.6 seconds left helped Marlington cap 63-61 come-from-behind win over the Indians on Tuesday.
The Indians got off a final shot that would have tied the game at the buzzer, but it wasn't close and the celebration was on. Marlington trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half.
"It was a tough situation," Brady said. "We stuck with it. We kept our heads up and kept playing. We didn't worry about the score. We just kept playing and trying to cut into the deficit."
Brady played a big role in the comeback. He scored 26 points and pulled down 19 rebounds. Nine of those were offensive boards. Brady helped the Dukes hold a 41-21 rebounding advantage over the Indians.
"Austin was tremendous," Marlington head coach Nick Evanich said. "He did a great job of giving us a lot of second-chance opportunities tonight."
You can also credit the Duke defense. Pesky guard Reece Kackley made life tough on Northwest leading scorer Scott Wormald all night. Kackley helped the Dukes hold Wormald to just six points.
Kackley also made the pass to Brady under the basket with 8.6 seconds left that gave Marlington the lead. He is proof you don't need to show up in the scorers book to make an impact on the floor.
"Reece played tremendous defense," Evanich said. "You can't talk about this game without talking about Reece. Scott Wormald is a great player and Reece did a great job on him all night. He made a major impact in this game. No doubt about it."
Blane Himmelheber added 17 points and eight assists for Marlington. Andrew Pucci also scored 10 points and had three blocked shots for the Dukes.
Luke Fennell led Northwest with 18 points and seven rebounds. Grant Baughman also had 14 points for the Indians.