Chambers boys avoid upset in double-overtime thriller

Published 8:30 am Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

With less than five seconds left in Chambers Academy boys’ basketball 71-69 win against Wilcox, Wilcox’s Cooper Dixon drilled a deep mid-range shot to give the Wildcats a two-point lead with 3.1 seconds left. 

After a timeout, Chambers guard Payton Allen took the inbounds pass, found forward Raphe Daniel at mid-court and received the ball back. He put up a 3-point attempt and was fouled with .2 seconds left in regulation. 

He made two of the three attempts, sending the game into overtime.

Email newsletter signup

In overtime, the combination of Daniel and Allen were the Rebels’ offense. Allen finished with two points in the overtime period but was able to find Daniel down on the block time and time again. 

At the end of the first overtime, the Rebels had a chance to win the game. They were up three points with less than a minute to play. A missed free throw opened the game back up, as the Wildcats were able to score a pair of shots from the floor to take a one-point lead. 

Payton Allen again went to the free-throw line, hitting one of the two shots this time around, sending the game into another overtime. Once again Daniel came up big, hitting three shots, collecting offensive rebounds and diving on the floor after loose balls.

“Raphe was huge for us down the stretch on the boards,” Head coach Jason Allen said. 

Payton Allen finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, while Daniel finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds. The pair finished with all 15 points in both overtimes. 

The Rebels will play Abbeville Christian in the semifinal game on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. CT.