NEW PHILADELPHIA As close as the battle between the Dover and New Philadelphia boys’ basketball teams was Friday night, it just had to come down to a final shot – with a sprinkle of controversy thrown in to spice things up even more, too.
New Phila senior Brandon Weekley scooped up a loose-ball rebound and fired up and nailed a shot from the 3-point area on the right side that just beat the buzzer, but was ruled a two-point basket, allowing the visiting Tornadoes to escape the Quaker gym with a thrilling 35-34 victory.
Just like the first game between the two schools – a 43-40 win by the Quakers last month – the leads by either team never were very big all night and the teams played tremendous defense on every possession.
The win gives the Tornadoes (17-2 overall) a record of 11-1 in the East Central Ohio League and a one-game lead on the Quakers (15-2, 10-2) with two league games left for each.
Dover also snapped New Phila’s 14-game winning streak, picked up its eighth straight win and gave Von Kaenel – already the winningest high school coach in Tuscarawas County history – another milestone win.
Von Kaenel now has won 500 games at Dover.
And he and everyone else in the gym won’t soon forget this one, either.
Both teams seemed to respond time and again on Friday. Dover took the early lead and was up 11-8 after the first quarter on the strength of seven points from senior Ethan Snyder, but the Quakers tied it up by halftime at 18-18 with junior Jent Joseph scoring nine of New Phila’s points in the half.
New Phila actually had an opportunity to have a nice lead at the break, but made only two of seven free throws in the first and second quarters, and finished a tough 12 of 22 from the line for the game.
Dover appeared ready to take over the game in the third quarter, as Snyder drained a 3-pointer and junior Kade Ruegsegger added two free throws to put the Tornadoes up 23-20. But after a basket by New Phila’s Nate Voll pulled the Quakers to within 23-20, a Dover player lost his composure, was whistled for a foul and a quick technical foul, and the Quakers ended up making four of six free throws on the possession to take a 24-23 lead into the fourth quarter.
Dover’s Jules Freeman promptly gave the Tornadoes the lead back on a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter and the fight to the finish was on from there.
New Phila’s Noah Begue gave the Quakers a 30-29 lead with 3:55 left on two free throws before Ruegsegger got loose for a layup out of an inbounds play and Dover’s Ian Sexton canned two free throws to put the Tornadoes up 33-30 with 1:24 remaining. Joseph made two free throws to make it 33-32 with 36.2 seconds left and Ruegsegger added a free throw for a 34-32 Dover lead with 13.8 seconds left.
After a New Phila turnover on a charge call, Folkert made one free throw for the 35-32 Dover lead.
The Quakers came right up the floor and got a good 3-point shot attempt that bounced away from the crowd around the basket and out toward Weekley just above the right corner. He stepped right into the ball and let the shot fly and when it went in the gym went absolutely bonkers until the officials ruled it was a two-point basket and ran off the floor.
“These are two such evenly matched teams – it was just a battle right from the start,” Von Kaenel said.
The teams both struggled shooting the ball due to the intense defense, as Dover made only 12 of 41 (29.2 percent) and New Phila made 10 of 27 (37 percent).
Snyder led Dover with 12 points and Ruegsegger had 10. Joseph was the only Quaker in double figures with 15 points, while Begue (4 points before fouling out) and Voll (3 points) combined for seven.
The Tornadoes also had a big 33-20 rebounding advantage, including grabbing 14 offensive rebounds.