Savior saved by buzzer-beater in game with Rams

dayton daily news
By Mark Gokavi
January 15, 2006

VANDALIA | It was a fitting final shot for an amazing game. Our Savior New American's Enrique Cova Benitez hit a jumper at the buzzer Saturday to defeat Trotwood-Madison, 74-73. Trotwood made just 4-of-10 free throws in the last 44 seconds. After the final miss with 4.8 ticks left, the Pioneers got the rebound. Benitez got the ball on the left wing with Trotwood's Patrick Hill defending. Benitez drained a 17-footer — his only points — while falling to his left. "It was very good defense and it was a very good shot," Our Savior coach Ronald Stelzer said. "He was saving it for last." The best game of the opening day of the Flyin' to the Hoop event at the Student Activity Center had a bit of everything.

• Our Savior has four Sudanese players 7 feet or taller, including cousins Ring Ayuel (7-5) and Mariall Dahl (7-3). Trotwood's Ibrahim Marone scored 22 points in that forest of humanity.

• Our Savior's Tyvon Williams scored 29 points and Trotwood's Armond Darby had 25. Incredibly, they scored 17 points apiece in the fourth quarter.

• Trotwood's Chris Wright (nine points) had three highlight-reel dunks. Our Savior's Daye Kaba — last year's Flyin' MVP who will attend Boston College — helped shut Wright down to one point after halftime.

The Rams (7-2) had flashes of brilliance. But for every nice pass or dunk, Trotwood coach Ike Thornton lamented each bad pass or decision. "We're still not playing at the level I would like us to be playing at right now," Thornton said. "We had opportunities in this game to get easy baskets and we go for the showtime. That's a sign of a very immature basketball team. That's where we are right now." Each team built and lost 6- and 8-point leads. The fourth quarter was a shootout, with Trotwood scoring 29 to Our Savior's 26. Timothy Ambrose added 19 for Our Savior (11-7). Daye scored 10, including a crucial 3-point play to cut a 70-66 lead to 70-69. Wright, a UD recruit, dunked over one 7-footer on a baseline move. At the end of the half, he jammed home a teammate's miss. Unfortunately for Trotwood, that was Wright's last field goal.

"It's difficult when you've got a bunch of athletes to teach them to be thinkers on the basketball court," Thornton said. "Their natural instinct is to say 'I can jump over anybody. I can throw an alley-oop with my eyes closed and Chris will go get it.' We've got to become believers real quick or the season won't go very far."

Contact Mark Gokavi at (937) 225-6951.