HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Wynford guard Cainen Allen was thrust into the spotlight Saturday night and the senior came through in a big way.
Allen not only knocked down the critical 3-point shot that tied the game and sent it into overtime, but in the second overtime he hit four straight free throws in the final 28.5 seconds of the game, with the final two coming with 8.9 seconds left.
Allen was one of five Royals that finished in double figures in a 73-69 double overtime win over the previously unbeaten Mohawk Warriors.
With the win, the Royals improved to 3-1 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, 5-2 overall, while Mohawk dropped to 3-1 in the conference, 7-1 overall.
How good was Allen? Of his 17 points in the game, he hit that critical 3 and went eight-for-eight from the line in the fourth period and the two overtimes.
“I just want to thank my teammates for giving me the ball,” Allen said. “They know I can knock it down.”
Allen also said, when he was standing at the line in the final seconds of the game, he was able to take all the noise out of the situation.
“I was just clearing my head,” Allen said. “I was just focusing on the rim and putting it there.”
Wynford led for most of the game, grabbing a 22-12 lead after one period and holding a 40-34 lead at the break.
But, just like the previous night against Upper Sandusky, a 63-56 Mohawk win, the Warriors came back from a large deficit to make a game of it.
Mohawk’s Bryce Hannam scored eight of his game-high 27 points in the period as the Warriors cut into the Wynford lead, finally tying the game at 46-46 after three on a Hannam lay-in.
The two teams traded leads in the final frame, Wynford grabbing a 51-48 lead on a Sam McMillan layup before the Warrior got six points from Hannam and two free throws from Hunter Haynes to take a 56-53 lead with 2:40 left in the game.
“We knew that was going to happen,” Wynford coach Mike Smith said about a possible Mohawk comeback. “That was our talk at halftime. We figured right off the start of the third quarter they would come out and probably press us, but they didn’t. I thought we handled their press real well all night. I think that’s why they didn’t press us. I think we scored off it several times.”
But it came down to Allen, who calmly knocked down the game-tying 3 with 1:22 left.
Neither team was able to score in regulation, sending the game into overtime.
Wynford took a 59-56 lead early in the overtime on a Weston Prenger 3, but the Warriors responded with 27 seconds left on a 3 from A.J. Hess, which tied the game at 63-63, heading into the second overtime.
Allen was six-for-six from the line in the second overtime and forward Ashton Warren scored three more as the Royals finally pulled away.
“Senior leader,” Smith said of Allen. “That’s what you expect from a person that has been with us four years. Doesn’t surprise me. He steps up in practice all the time and hits 3s. Hits foul shots and works on his game. Just an awesome effort by Cainen tonight.”
Mohawk coach Paul Dunn felt that back-to-back ferocious comebacks may have just been too much for his team.
“Three games in four days, that’s never easy,” Dunn said. “And I thought we came out kinda flat tonight. It was kind of a weird first quarter.
“Defensively, we did a decent job,” he added. “We let them get too many backdoor cuts, too many easy looks to the basket.”
Mohawk did get relatively good balance offensively. Hess backed up Hannam with 18 points and Kahne Hayman added eight.
“Offensively, we were out of rhythm,” Dunn said. “We didn’t share the ball like we usually do. We didn’t finish like we usually do, and we didn’t make free throws and layups like we usually do. It’s very frustrating. We have a lot of talent in this locker room, and they’re pretty upset, and we’re just upset with ourselves. It’s a learning experience for us.”
Dunn also thought his team might have been mentally tired.
“We were really engaged last night, and the kids had a lot of energy,” Dunn said. “Tonight, I didn’t think we had the same energy and the same fire coming off. It can be most of the things, it could just be we’re tired, we could be emotionally tired, whatever it might have been, but I just hope, in a game like this, that the kids learn something from it.”
McMillan paced the Royals with 19 points and Allen scored 17. Warren tallied 13, Grant McGuire had 12 and Prenger added 11.
Smith knows this win was big for his team. The Royals are still just one game out of the N10 lead.
“That’s a huge win for us,” Smith said. “We haven’t had a lot of those around here.
“We were pretty poised, it’s pretty odd for a few guys who haven’t been in that situation,” Smith added. “But I thought we handled it like veterans.”
The junior varsity game also went into overtime, with the Warriors winning, 40-36. Ben Bogner led Mohawk with 11 points. K.J. Kotalik led the Royals with 16 points.
Box score
Mohawk 12 22 12 10 7 6 — 69
Wynford 22 18 6 10 7 10 — 73
Mohawk (7-1, 3-1 N10): Shots 26-59; 3-pt. shots 5 (Hunter Haynes 2, Boomer Cleveland, A.J. Hess, Bryce Hannam); Free throws 10-16; Rebounds 33; Turnovers 16. Scoring: Kahne Hayman 4 0 8, Boomer Cleveland 2 1 6, Hunter Haynes 2 2 8, A.J. Hess 7 3 18, Bryce Hannam 11 4 27, Brayden Chester 1 0 2.
Wynford (5-2, 3-1 N10): Shots 23-49; 3-pt. shots 6 (Weston Prenger 3, Ashton Warren, Cainen Allen, Grant McGuire); Free throws 21-29; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 19. Scoring: Ashton Warren 5 2 13, Drew Johnson 0 1 1, Weston Prenger 3 2 11, Cainen Allen 4 8 17, Grant McGuire 3 5 12, Sam McMillan 8 3 19.
JV: Mohawk 40-36 (OT).