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Marietta High boys fall to Cambridge in overtime, 63-59

Marietta’s Austin Witucky, left, drives on Cambridge’s Cody Moore during a high school boys basketball game Friday night at Sutton Gym. Photo by Ron Johnston

MARIETTA — Both Marietta High and Cambridge High will probably be spending some extra practice time at the foul line the next time each is on the hardwood.

The Tigers missed 17 free-throws in a 63-59 overtime loss to the Bobcats Friday night in East Central Ohio League boys’ basketball action at Sutton Gym.

“This team is still learning,” said MHS head coach J.D. Secrest, whose orange and black cagers (1-5) dropped their fifth in a row since defeating Warren in the season opener. “This is frustrating for the guys, but that’s correctable.

“The shots in the paint that didn’t fall and the foul shots, they’re correctable. We’ll fix those and get better.”

Jackson Graham scored 16 points to lead Marietta, while Derek Duckworth and Austin Witucky added 15 and 14 markers, respectively. The Tigers, who were 15 of 32 from the line, finished with 10 turnovers in the contest.

Cambridge (4-2 overall, 3-1 ECOL) itself was 15 of 28 from the charity stripe. The visitors from Guernsey County also had 16 turnovers.

Trent Valentine led the Cats with a game-high 24 points, including 11 in the extra session. Cody Moore chipped in with 11 points, while Sean Perkins netted nine.

Sparked by Graham’s five first-half points, Marietta staked itself to an 11-10 advantage. The Tigers never trailed in the second period but only led 23-21 at halftime as the Bobcats hung tough.

In the third quarter, Moore had the hot hand, scoring seven points, as Cambridge outpointed Marietta 18-13 and led 39-36 going into the fourth period.

The final eight minutes of regulation time was low scoring with neither school capitalizing at the foul line. With time winding down, Duckworth’s drive and layup tied the score at 47-all with about 3 seconds left. After the Bobcats turned it over, the Tiger senior then nearly banked in a long desperation shot at the buzzer.

“We got the shots we wanted,” Secrest said. “We got open looks, but they just didn’t fall.”

In OT, Cambridge never trailed after Valentine converted two freebies at the 3:28 mark to make it 49-47. During the extra session, the 5-foot-10 senior guard converted nine foul shots to help keep Marietta at bay.

“The effort was there,” said Secrest summing up the game. “We were worried about our effort and execution tonight. We didn’t have that coming out the gate against New Philly on Tuesday. We corrected that and we played with effort tonight. We got shots we wanted all night. We missed a lot of bunnies, and we missed a lot of free-throws.”

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