Boys Basketball: Hillside stuns Cardinal Gibbons with rally, wins 74-67 in OT
The Hillside Hornets erased a huge early deficit to earn a 74-67 win over the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders at home in Durham on Tuesday night.
Gibbons came out with a spectacular energy level on the road early, jumping out to a quick 10-5 lead and building on it through the first quarter.
Senior Alex Fanney was instrumental in building out his team's lead as he knocked down three three-pointers in the opening eight minutes.
The Crusaders kept pushing after winning the first quarter 19-7. Gibbons started off the second quarter on an 8-0 run to go ahead by 20 points at 27-7.
From there, Hillside began to creep back into the game.
Pressure defense started to get Gibbons out of sync offensively, and buckets began to fall on the other end for the Hornets.
Hillside didn't pull off a big run, but was able to cut its deficit to 14 at the halftime break.
The Hornets continued to chip away in the third quarter as standout guard Devin Sims hit three field goals after just one in the first half to help the Hornets get back within 10.
Hillside really got going in the fourth quarter, quickly getting the deficit to single digits and keeping it there long enough for a three by Brendan Watley to put major pressure on Gibbons late and a three by Suliamon Shackleford to beat the buzzer and send the game to overtime.
The Hornets were in full control in overtime as Sims put up four points and Jayde Braswell hit five key free throws to keep his team in front.
The game was Hillside's season-opener, so the Hornets start things off with a 1-0 record. They'll look to improve to 2-0 on the season in a tough contest on the road at Millbrook on December 6.
Gibbons falls to 0-2 on the season with the loss and will look to pick up its first win of the season in a neutral-site game against Charlotte Catholic on Friday.