UTICA — Would you believe another buzzer beater?
Utica’s Broc Stradley drove the lane and hit a layup to lift his team over the Johnstown Johnnies, 64-62, giving the Redskins an important home win in a Tuesday evening heart-stopper of a Mid-Buckeye Conference basketball game.
With the score knotted at 62, the Utica Redskins (4-2, 3-1 MBC) got the ball with 5.9 seconds left on the clock. The play called to inbound the ball to Stradley, who simply drove the lane and scored the game-winner.
“We wanted to get the ball into (Broc’s) hands,” said Utica coach Brian Radabaugh. “It was a full-court situation. It’s hard to run a whole lot. We just wanted to get it into the playmaker’s hands. We told him to take it as far as he could. He made a good decision, he was strong with the basketball and he made a good play.”
Stradley knew what to expect from the Johnnies with the game on the line.
“I figured they were going to be heading for the ball.” said Stradley (17 points). “They’re all scrappy defenders. I was trying to keep the ball safe. We didn’t have enough time to get a pass off and I just had to take it to the board.”
For the Johnnies, it was their first league loss of the season.
