O’Hara Grinds Out Overtime Win Over Health Sciences

Cardinal O’Hara let a 15-point second-half lead slip away. Its best player missed a shot that would’ve won the game at the end of regulation, three starters had fouled out and the Hawks trailed a tough Health Sciences team by seven points midway through overtime.

But the Hawks weren’t about to give up now.

O’Hara closed the game on an 11-1 run and posted an impressive 80-77 win over Health Sciences in the most exciting of the 10 games in the AdPro Public vs. Private Challenge on Saturday at St. Mary’s High School.

“I tell our guys all the time, usually the tougher, more experienced team wins that game,” O’Hara Tony Pulvirenti said. “That’s a big win for us.”

The Hawks came out flying after halftime, scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter to take a 45-30 lead. The Falcons chipped away at that lead and finally took the lead on a pair of Kameron Briggs free throws with 5:04 left in the fourth, setting the stage for a wild final quarter.

Haakim Siner gave O’Hara the lead at 69-68 with 35 seconds left in regulation. Brigs tied it with a free throw with seven seconds left. His go-ahead free throw was negated by a lane violation and O’Hara had a chance to win it at the end but Justin Hemphill’s shot was off the mark as the buzzer sounded.

Health Sciences scored the first seven points of the overtime but the Hawks were just getting warmed up. O’Hara scored the next seven and tied it on a bucket by Jermaine Haynes with 1:22 left. Avion Harris gave the Hawks the lead for good on a pair of free throws with 1:07 to play.

The Falcons had a number of chances to tie, the best with 30 seconds left when Briggs had a breakaway layup opportunity – but a hustling Hemphill caught up for the big block.

“The best part was, he was upset that he missed that shot that could have won the game but he didn’t hang his head,” Pulvirenti said. “He came out and did what he was supposed to do.”

Haynes and Harris led the Hawks with 17 points apiece. Hemphill scored 12, Siner 11 and Jaedin Cottman 10 for O’Hara.

Briggs led everybody with 27 points, Daclaire Riley added 18 and Ja’Vaughn Jones 11 for Health Sciences.

“I schedule games like this on purpose,” Pulvierenti said. “I want the guys to be challenged. It was a back-and-forth game and now I think we’re better because of it.”