“Really relieved,” said Valley View senior swingman Ryan Haeseker, who hit the game-winning shot. “We are alive. We just need to keep winning.”
Haeseker drove the baseline and converted a short jumper with 6.5 seconds left in OT to snap the 44-44 deadlock.
“It was more of a floater than anything,” Haeseker said. “I was trying to drive and make something happen, and it just worked out. That was nice.”
“The plan was let him get to the rim, and we had a couple options off of it,” Spartans coach Ben Buehner said. “He just decided the other options weren’t as good as him taking it. That’s what we want him to do. We want him to be the man, and he did it.”
The last-place Blue Devils, a squad that’s taken the term snakebitten to a new level in the SWBL this season, couldn’t get a shot off at the other end after a timeout.
“We’re still inconsistent,” Buehner said. “At the beginning of the year when we started 1-4, we were losing all the close games, but we’ve been able to overcome bad stretches lately. Hopefully that’s a sign that we’re getting better and becoming a more mature team heading into the tournament.”
Tyler Whiteman paced Valley View with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Haeseker had 12 points and nine boards. Levi McMonigle added six rebounds.
The Spartans are 11-9 overall and 7-4 in the Southwestern Division, and they’ll finish SWBL play at home Thursday against Eaton.
Franklin and Oakwood are both 8-3 and will play Friday vs. Eaton and Monroe (7-4), respectively. The division could end up in a four-way tie for the title.
“It’s not as good a shot as we had in our own hands a few weeks ago, but we’re still alive,” Buehner said. “The league’s been really crazy this year, so you never know. But if we come out and play like we did at the beginning tonight, we’re not going to take advantage of anything.”
Dalton Stewart fired in 23 points and Cody Cox added 12 for Brookville (10-11, 1-10), which shot 28 percent from the floor. Cameren Alber grabbed seven rebounds.
The fourth 3-pointer of the night from Cox tied the game at 44 with 17.4 seconds remaining in overtime.
“I don’t question our energy or our effort — ever,” Blue Devils coach Jeff Davidson said. “It just comes down to execution. Point blank, we’ve got to execute better at critical moments. That’s all.”
Free-throw shooting didn’t help either team a great deal. Brookville was 8 of 15. Valley View was 9 of 17.
“What are you going to do? You try to put them in pressure situations at the foul line in practice, but you can’t simulate games,” Davidson said. “You just keep banging away.”
The Blue Devils made 9 of 20 foul shots in Tuesday’s 64-62 home loss to Franklin. Eight of Brookville’s Southwestern defeats have been by seven points or less.
“This one hurts more than last night. Maybe it’s because there’s a little residual,” Davidson said. “I just keep waiting for that one moment in a game where we can look at each other and say, ‘OK, we got one.’
“Our resilience will be tested once again, but if I know these kids, they’re going to enter practice tomorrow the same way they’ve entered practice all year, and we’ll load the bus up and go to Bellbrook (on Friday) and compete at the highest level possible.”
Valley View beat the Blue Devils 44-37 last Friday. The Spartans, who will finish the regular season at home against Vandalia Butler on Saturday, have won seven of their last nine games.
Brookville 11-12-11-6-4—44
Valley View 8-10-16-6-6—46
BROOKVILLE (10-11, 1-10) — Cody Cox 4 0 12, Dalton Stewart 6 7 23, Christian Berry 1 0 2, Tyler Scherer 3 1 7. Totals: 14-8-44
VALLEY VIEW (11-9, 7-4) — Andrew Valenti 0 1 1, Jared Brown 2 0 5, Clayton Erbaugh 2 1 6, Andrew King 2 0 4, Tyler Whiteman 5 4 14, Zach Haeseker 2 0 4, Ryan Haeseker 4 3 12. Totals: 17-9-46
3-pointers: B 8 (Stewart 4, Cox 4), V 3 (Brown, Erbaugh, R. Haeseker)
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