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Allderdice wins City League boys basketball title in three OTs
Obama Academy guard Dana Strothers hit clutch shots in the closing seconds of regulation and the first overtime to extend the City League championship game against three-time defending champion Allderdice.
Not to be outdone, the Dragons Jahi Ogbonna drained a runner in the lane with 1.5 seconds left in the second overtime to keep their hopes of winning a fourth consecutive title alive.
In the end, though, it wasn’t a last-second shot that decided a title game that featured 19 lead changes and eight ties. It was the same shot over and over again.
Allderdice junior Tyler Williams made 5 of 6 free throws in the third overtime, including the back end of a two-shot foul with 19.8 seconds remaining as the Dragons hung on for a 71-70 victory at the Petersen Events Center for their fourth consecutive City League title.
“My dad is the one who gave me my confidence [to] stay aggressive because there was times when it wasn’t going too well for me this season,” Williams said. “It was a lot to be sure. It was crazy, but you’ve got to have confidence.”
Williams’ consistency from the line in the fourth quarter and overtime — he made 9-of-10 overall and scored 11 of his 13 points down the stretch — might not have been the flashy reason why Allderdice won. But it was a contributing factor.
“They played as hard as they could and did what we asked them to do and came up with clutch shot after clutch shot,” Obama Academy coach Devas Simmons said. “They had a young man make 9 of 10 free throws to keep them in the game. They just won it. We didn’t lose it.”