Leemen need extra period to get by Indians

It took until overtime Tuesday night, but Robert E. Lee found a way to keep pace with the top of the Valley District with an 80-75 victory over upset-minded Fort Defiance.

Shai Matthews led four Leemen in double figures with 24 points, who improved to 5-2 in the Valley District and 10-7 overall with the win.

“Fort Defiance played a great ball game tonight. They shot the ball very well and Coach Leonard definitely had his team prepared. Luckily we made the plays down the stretch to come away with a victory but it wasn’t easy,” Lee coach Jarrett Hatcher said after the game.

A majority of the game in regulation saw the Leemen holding a slim advantage, as they never held a lead larger than eight points.

After Lee jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, Fort Defiance went on an 8-2 run to take a 10-9 advantage into the second quarter. Two 3-pointers from Trevor Lam fueled the run for the Indians.

Back-to-back 3s from Matthews opened up a 15-10 lead for Lee in the second, and another trey from the junior at the 3:44 mark gave the Leemen a 27-19 advantage. Fort closed the half on an 11-6 run, however, behind two 3s from Adam Frazier and trailed just 33-30 at the break.

Lee opened up an eight-point lead in the third quarter, after Chance Crawford knocked a short jumper down with 4:05 left to make the score 44-36. Once again, the Indians stormed back, closing the period on a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 49-45.

The Leemen appeared to have a handle on the game with a 60-52 lead with just 3:57 left, but Fort Defiance again was able to muster a comeback.

An Adam Frazier three-ball with just sixteen seconds left capped a 10-2 run for Fort and tied the game at 62. Matthews attempted a game-winning 3 at the buzzer that hit the back of the rim.

Taylor Knicely and Matthews hit back-to-back 3s to open the overtime period for Lee, giving the Leemen a lead they would not relinquish. Lee knocked down its free throws down the stretch and advanced to the 80-75 final.

“I thought our guys played very hard tonight, it was a tough game physically and they stepped up. Just getting it to overtime was a tough task,” Fort Defiance coach Larry Leonard said. “I thought we were very aggressive but we couldn’t get the big shots when we needed them.”

Crawford, Thaddeus Toye and Chad Whitelow joined Matthews in double figures with 15, 14 and 10, respectively.

Frazier was the top Indian scorer with 17 points. Trevor Lam (16) and Michael Henderson (10) also notched double digits.