Oly bombs rival Skyline

On Friday, Feb. 17, I attended the Skyline at Olympus boys basketball game. This is a neighborhood rivalry and the Skyline gym was packed. It was a pleasure to be there. It was also "one of those nights" for the visiting team. This is the article I wrote that night. I'm doing yearbooks for both teams this year.


By Bruce Smith
Matchup

For three quarters Friday night, the Olympus Titans played their best basketball of the season. The Titans could have beaten anybody. It was one of those nights when everything went their way.

You could say the stars seemed to align. It just happened that the opponent was their neighborhood rival – Skyline. The newspaper clippings showed that Parker Rawlings scored 17 points and Will Cannon had 15 in a 54-45 Oly victory in a Region 7 game.

Oly’s victory moved the Titans into a first-place tie with Skyline and also helped avenge a 59-52 loss to the Eagles on their court earlier this season.

But it was much more than that.

“We played pretty darn good,” understated Oly coach Matt Barnes. “We had the passion that we had lost for a few games. We had this well in hand.”

Rawlings was a big part of it. The 6-foot-7 senior, who attended Skyline as a sophomore but didn’t make the team, moved to Olympus and came back to haunt the Eagles with a huge performance. He made 4-6 three-pointers, a couple of them during a third-quarter blitz where Oly pushed a 32-17 lead even bigger.

At one point, the margin reached 24 points. As Skyline fans hoped for a second-half comeback, Rawlings, Coulson Hardy, Jake Bengzten and Nick Barney made consecutive shots from long range that prevented that from happening.

The game was well in hand by the fourth quarter and Oly fans enjoyed the time to appreciate it.

“It was a great stretch,” Barnes said. “They were really making it tough for our big guys, but we got the ball to the perimeter and made the shots. Parker Rawlings was on fire. It was just one of those nights.”

Skyline coach Derek Bunting, whose team had a chance to clinch the region title with a victory, wasn’t too disappointed with the loss.

“The way they shot the ball … what could we do?” he said. “We didn’t want to give up any layups, like we did in the fourth quarter last time (we played them). When the ball starts rolling like this, it’s hard to turn off.”

Oly came out the aggressor. The Titans, who fell 59-52 to Skyline on their home court earlier this season, got an early lead and, by early in the second quarter, it became apparent this was a special night. Skyline focused its defense to stop Cannon, but failed.

Cannon was harassed all night. He still got nine points by halftime and was fouled on every one of his baskets. The third time, he was shoved almost into the nearby concrete wall, but somehow the ball went in the basket. As Oly fans roared, Bunting could only grimace.

“We couldn’t get stops,” he said. “I don’t know why, but we’ve not been a good team at home this year.”

The Eagles’ loss on “Senior Night,” where they honored five players, will also be remembered for the huge crowd on hand. Still, they fell to 5-4 in their gym this year (10-1 on the road).

But they but didn’t go quietly.

As Oly tried to hold on to the ball in the fourth quarter, Skyline forced several turnovers and rallied to make the final score appear more respectful. A Barney free throw was the only thing prevented from being blanked in the final eight minutes.

DeSean Miller, despite a poor shooting night, made several driving layups for Skyline and finished with 15 points. Garrett England added 13.


GAME SUMMARY

Olympus 16 16 21 1 - 54
Skyline 10 7 12 16 - 45

OLYMPUS (54) – Nick Barney 2-4 1-2 6, Jake Bengtzen 3-3 0-2 8, Stuart Pace 0-1 0-0 0, Will Cannon 6-8 3-3 15, Parker Rawlings 6-11 1-2 17, Coulson Hardy 3-8 0-0 8, Jackson Coleman 0-1 0-1 0, Jaren Jones 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-38 5-10 54.
SKYLINE (45) – DeSean Miller 5-17 2-2 12, Clint Berhow 4-9 0-1 8, PatrickNielson 1-2 0-2 2, Scott Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Staes 0-3 2-2 2, Garrett England 4-6 4-5 13, Jacek Hacking 3-5 2-4 8. Totals 17-43 10-16 45.
Total fouls: Olympus 18, Skyline 18. Fouled out: Hardy, Berhow. Technical fouls: None.
Three-point shooting: Olympus 9-19 (Rawlings 4, Hardy 2, Bengtzen 2, Barney). Skyline 1-9 (England).
Rebounds: Olympus 25 (Barney, Cannon 6), Skyline 25 (Nielson 6).
Turnovers: Olympus 16, Skyline 13.