5 OT epic won't be seen again ... because it lasted too long for tape
One of the greatest high school basketball playoff games in Kentucky prep sports history will never be seen again, quite literally. Just hours after a five-overtime classic was completed, the teams learned that the digital disk used to film the game ran out of room after the first two overtimes.
"It was epic," Allen County-Scottsville coach James Willett told the Glasgow Daily Times. "It was an amazing thing to be a part of."
The game in question was undoubtedly an all-time classic, and is believed to be a state playoff record, tied with a five-overtime girls playoff game from 1994.
Eventually, Monroe County (Ky.) edged out Allen County-Scottsville (Ky.) High, 85-78, after five overtimes and enough dramatic endings to periods to fill a season. According to the Daily Times, the 52 minutes of game time lasted more than 2 1/2 hours, and included opportunities for both teams to wrap up a win at the free-throw line, only to fall short on one or both free throws.
Eventually, it took a 7-0 run at the end of the fifth overtime for Monroe County to escape, despite its coach feeling that ACS actually had more chances to emerge victorious.
"It's gotta be one for the ages," Monroe County coach Steve Kirkpatrick told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "I know I've never seen anything like it.
"It seemed like [Allen County-Scottsville] always had the last shot or a chance to get off a last shot in the overtimes."
Perhaps predictably, Monroe County was so exhausted from the district semifinal victory that it could only muster a marginal challenge in the District 15 Tournament final, succumbing 66-41 to Glasgow (Ky.) High, which ended a nine-year district title drought for the victorious Scotties, according to the Daily Times.
Yet the 2011 District 15 tournament will surely be remembered for Monroe County and ACS' five-overtime dramatics, even if only those in attendance will ever know of the game's late-stages, thanks to the limitations of modern technology. Or modern technological storage, at the very least.
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