Blythewood’s Dominique Lemon (3) soars in with the soft touch against Spring Valley Tuesday. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood High School boys’ basketball team (8-14, 3-4) dropped a heart-breaker to Spring Valley Tuesday night in double-overtime fashion, as the Vikings escaped the jungle with a 68-66 win.
On the baseline, Mark Brailsford dropped in a floater from 6-feet away at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime. At the end of the first overtime, Spring Valley’s Jordan Bruner knocked down a jumper with one second remaining to send the game into double-overtime.
In the second overtime, the Bengals took control of the game by going on a 6-3 run. Halfway through that second overtime, the two teams traded baskets until the final seconds when Blythewood’s Dominique Lemon went to the foul line with the game tied at 65 and just three seconds remaining. Lemon cashed in the first free throw to give the Bengals the slight one point edge; but then the second foul shot banged off the backside of the rim. Spring Valley came down with the rebound and lobbed a pass toward half court to Marcus Hollaway, who took two dribbles and buried a long range shot from 30-feet out as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Lemon finished the game in double digits with 10, which included eight in the two overtime periods. Cameron Womack led the Bengals in scoring with 16, which was fueled by a 12-point effort in the fourth quarter.
A stunned Blythewood team dropped its third game in a row and will now be fighting for their postseason lives in the last three games of the season. Currently fourth place in the Region IV-4A, the Bengals will play both the number three team in region, Ridge View (5-12, 3-3) and Richland Northeast (4-13, 2-4) in the last week. In order for those two games to matter, Blythewood will first have to deal with Lugoff-Elgin (1-15, 0-6) Friday night.
