'Didn't look good, but it went in': Chavers wins it for Canton McKinley vs. GlenOak in OT

PLAIN TWP. — Before this season, Anthony Chavers hadn't played a minute of varsity or JV high school basketball.

Before Thursday night, the Canton McKinley sophomore hadn't felt the thrill of hitting a game-winning shot either.

Chavers continues to check off basketball experiences, and McKinley continues to accumulate wins.

Chavers hit a 3-pointer off a broken play in the final seconds of overtime to give McKinley a 64-61 win at GlenOak.

The Bulldogs wanted to go to Reed Sims Jr., who had made a 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation to extend the game. But GlenOak denied him, forcing a drive from Davey Thompson and a loose ball, which Sims Jr. alertly snatched and passed to Chavers in the left corner.

Chavers' shot sort of nestled into the rim and set off a wild celebration for a McKinley team that had trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and 11 entering the fourth quarter.

"I thought I was going to miss, man," Chavers said. "It didn't look good, but it went in. My teammates trusted me and it got the win for us."

Sean Weatherspoon is the young head coach of a young McKinley team. The Bulldogs may be graybeards soon if this style of basketball continues.

Four of McKinley's five games so far have been decided by five points or less, and that includes an overtime loss at home to Dover on Saturday. The Bulldogs, 4-1 overall, are the last unbeaten team in Federal League play at 3-0.

"These games early in the season are going to be great for us in the end," said Weatherspoon, a state champion as a McKinley player now in his first season as head coach. "They're learning experiences for us. We only have two returning guys who played extended varsity minutes last year."

Weatherspoon added with a laugh, "So it's win and survive for us early in the season."

The lanky 6-foot-3 Chavers grabbed a game-high nine rebounds to go with 12 points. Senior guard Je'Cis Moody, one of McKinley's two experienced players, added 13 points and six rebounds.

The other experienced player, the 6-5 Sims Jr., didn't start Thursday because of disciplinary reasons. But the junior scored a game-high 21 points to go with six rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. He scored nine points in the fourth quarter alone to key the comeback.

Sims Jr. missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in overtime of the 62-59 Dover loss on Saturday. Weatherspoon came back and ran the exact same play for Sims Jr. on Thursday with McKinley down three at the end of regulation.

This time, he buried the 3-pointer from the left wing to keep McKinley alive.

"I told him going into that (against Dover) that I believed in him," Weatherspoon said. "Then coming into the timeout (tonight), I told him the same thing. I had confidence in him, and he knocked the shot down."

GlenOak (1-1, 1-1) likely is scratching its head after this one.

The experienced Golden Eagles never trailed from the game's opening minutes until Sims Jr. hit a pair of free throws early in overtime.

There were a lot of GlenOak misses around the rim, including not finishing a breakaway dunk attempt early in the fourth quarter that could've put them up 11. Instead McKinley pushed the other way for a difficult Sims Jr. bucket that was part of an 8-0 Bulldogs run.

GlenOak missed five of six free throw attempts during a stretch covering the final 30.6 seconds of regulation and the first minute of OT.

"I think it sucks for us because we didn't finish the game off like we're supposed to," GlenOak head coach Rick Hairston said. "Lots of bad shots. Lots of not checking out. Lots of bad decisions. As the coach, I have to say that's probably my fault.

"I think they wanted it a little more than we did."

Junior Reese Zerger scored 12 of his team-high 16 points after halftime and grabbed six rebounds for GlenOak. Senior Jaylen McElroy scored 13 points, including a steal-and-bucket that tied the game at 61-61 with just less than a minute left in OT.

Senior guard Ja'Corey Lipkins scored 12 points, and junior point guard Bryce Broom added seven points, seven assists and three steals for GlenOak.

McKinley made 19 of 22 free throws and outrebounded GlenOak 32-28 to help overcome 21 turnovers. The Bulldogs limited GlenOak to a combined 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

"We're a young team, man," Weatherspoon said. "I thought GlenOak did an absolutely great job coming out and punching us in the mouth. They played hard as heck. Rick Hairston teams are going to do that. For the first three quarters, we weren't there toughness-wise."

After that, the young Bulldogs looked all grown up.

Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio boys high school basketball: Canton McKinley defeats GlenOak