It was a strange game.
The Webster boys' team fell behind by as many as 18 points in the third quarter before mounting a furious rally to pull to within 1 point with about 20 seconds remaining in the game, but fell short to the visiting Williamstown Yellow Jackets by a final score of 57 to 56 Thursday evening.
Strange events occurred throughout the second half.
First, a Webster player intentionally made a layup on the wrong end of the court early in the third quarter, giving the Yellow Jackets two free points. Second, at a critical time in the fourth quarter, a Webster fan sitting three rows back near the Webster bench called (yelled) for a timeout and the referee actually gave a timeout to Webster. Even coach Mike Gray had a smile on his face over that. He wanted a timeout but the fan beat him to the call. Third, one of Webster's livestream announcers about came out of his chair, along with countless Webster fans, over several non-calls by the referees. The usually calm, cool, and collected announcer was in total disbelief, a feeling shared by many. Fourth, and finally, when it looked like the Webster players were resigned to lose the game when they were behind 18 points, prodding by coach Gray and assistant coach Eddie Mazzella encouraged the team not to give up and they slowly and methodically ran a near flawless press, resulting in countless turnovers and points to nearly win the game.
The teams were tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a buzzer beating layup by senior Chase Rose. Williamstown then opened up a 10 point lead at 34 to 24 at halftime. The Yellow Jackets then increased the lead to 18 points midway into the third quarter, but Webster chipped away at that lead to trail 49 to 35 at the end of three quarters. Early in the fourth quarter, Williamstown ran up a 17 point lead before the Highlanders mounted their comeback, and had a chance to tied the game but for a missed free throw.
Dalton Gray led the Highlanders with 18 points. Dorian Groggs and Hayden Williams both netted 11 points. Bradin Miller had 8 points, Chase Rose had 4 points, and Tyler Gray and Mathias Palmer each had 2 points to round out the scoring for Webster.
With the loss, the Highlanders' season record falls to 12 wins, 9 losses, with a final regular season game at Richwood on February 22. The last two losses for Webster puts their hopes of hosting a home playoff game in serious jeopardy. The final game against Richwood will weigh heavily on those hopes.
The Webster JV team improved to a perfect 18 and 0 in their rout of the Williamstown JV team by a final score of 77 to 38.
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