WEB EXCLUSIVE

America’s Got Talent quarterfinalist David Ferman escaped certain death, freeing himself from a bear trap during halftime at the Oviedo (18-7) vs. Hagerty (16-12) basketball game on Feb. 2 at the RWL Gym. The Lions, however, could not escape their certain disaster in a nail-biting 56-52 loss.

The game started as a back-and-forth brawl, with the only highlight coming in the form of senior Ivan Smith’s breakaway dunk as Oviedo clawed to a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

As the second quarter progressed, Oviedo struggled to maintain momentum. After junior Devon Knaub’s fadeaway, the Lions gave up eight straight points, spurred by Hagerty forward Will Faulk’s three-pointer. Trailing 20-27, Oviedo responded with their own 9-0 run, powered by five straight points from Smith. As the buzzer sounded, senior Miguel Lopez swatted Hagerty’s layup attempt into the stands, sending Oviedo into the intermission with a 29-27 lead.

The third quarter returned to the back-and-forth ways of the first. Lopez opened the scoring with a layup, but Hagerty’s Joe Conley immediately countered with a fadeaway. When Knaub hit a three, Conley came back with an and-one layup. The teams kept trading baskets, with Oviedo eventually holding a 38-35 lead in the middle of the third.

After Conley hit a jumper to close the gap to 39-37, Hagerty went ice cold. Oviedo junior Josh Charlery hit a floater to extend the lead to four. Smith hit a free throw to extend the lead to five. Knaub hit a three to extend the lead to eight. Meanwhile, Hagerty missed three after three, despite having multiple chances on each possession. At the end of the third, Oviedo held a 45-37 lead.

In the fourth, Oviedo changed tactics. They abandoned their fast-paced play for a slower, more conservative approach. With the clock bleeding out, Hagerty and Oviedo exchanged baskets, Oviedo holding a 47-39 lead with five minutes to go. That’s when Hagerty’s Vecarie Pettis forgot what sport he was playing. On a low cross-court pass by Oviedo, Pettis punted the ball out of the arena. Although the Lions retained possession, Pettis forced a turnover and threw down a tomahawk breakaway jam, cutting the lead to six. The next possession down, he kicked another pass out of bounds, forcing an Oviedo timeout and shifting the momentum back to Hagerty.

Flustered, the Lions started faltering offensively. After an Oviedo miss, Hagerty junior Aiden Quilles hit a three, cutting the lead to three. After a Smith free throw, Hagerty’s Jordan Cox made a layup to trim make it a two point game. After an Oviedo layup, the teams committed consecutive turnovers, causing a Hagerty timeout with under two minutes to go.

Coming out of the timeout, Cox drove to the basket and scooped in a reverse layup to cut Oviedo’s lead to two. He then stole a pass, but missed an open layup, allowing Oviedo’s Lopez to counter with one of his own.

Down four and in desperation mode, Faulk heaved up a fadeaway prayer from three. His prayer was answered as he banked the shot in, trimming the lead to one. After Morgan Mitchell missed an ill-advised fadeaway off an inbound pass, Hagerty’s Danny Garrett capitalized with a floater to take a 53-52 lead, their first of the second half.

With time now a factor for Oviedo, Smith pulled up for a long three and clanked it off the rim. With 18 seconds left, Oviedo needed to foul to stop the clock. They didn’t. Finally realizing their mistake, senior Earl Baker fouled the ball handler with 6.2 seconds remaining.

Looking back, Baker chalks the mistake up to a mental lapse.

“Some of us weren’t aware of the situation, the score and how much time we had left,” Baker said. “By the time we realized it, we had like six seconds left.”

After trading timeouts in an attempt to outsmart their opponent on the inbounds pass, Hagerty drew up a beautiful backdoor play, successfully inbounding the ball, scoring a basket and getting fouled. When Faulk drained the free throw, he gave Hagerty a 56-52 lead and sealed Oviedo’s fate.

Despite the loss, the Lions are taking positives from the game. Baker said that their defense was pretty good and that, even with the loss, they’re still first in the district. Even with the silver lining, the team looks to turn this loss into fuel for their playoff push.

“We just have to get ready for next game,” Baker said. “We have to try to cut down on the turnovers we made in the last game, and try to improve and stay positive.”

Since the loss, Oviedo is 2-0, including a 53-35 playoff win against Winter Springs. The team’s next game is on Feb. 10 against Seminole High School at Lake Mary High School.

All dates and records are as of Feb. 9, 2017, and are courtesy of Maxpreps.com