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Parkway players Trent Rollins (32) and Xavier Samples (10) celebrate after Caiden Berry (on floor) secures the ball to complete the Panthers' 50-49 comeback victory over Fort Jennings on Wednesday in the Division IV sectional in Rockford.
ROCKFORD - It's tough to dig out of one hole in basketball.
Parkway did it, not once, but twice.
After trailing by seven after one quarter, Parkway came back to take a halftime lead against Fort Jennings. The Musketeers came back and led by nine with 4 ½ minutes to play, but the Panthers responded with a 12-2 run capped off by Caiden Berry's go-ahead bucket with 22 seconds remaining to give Parkway a 50-49 win in the Division IV boys basketball sectional on Wednesday at Panther Gymnasium.
The Panthers (13-10) travels to Ottoville on Friday for the sectional final.
"We called a timeout (with 4:37 remaining) and really challenged them," said Parkway coach Doug Hughes. "We told it was crunch time and we were going to do it now or not get it done. It wasn't looking good."
Fort Jennings (9-14) came out firing, taking an 11-2 lead with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter. Xavier Samples hit two free throws with 1:25 to play in the first to make it 11-4, which proved to be the spark for the Panthers beginning the first comeback.
After Fort Jennings went up 19-10 with 3:35 remaining before halftime, Berry got things rolling with a 3-pointer followed by Samples getting a hoop-and-harm to cut it to 19-16 with 2:49 remaining. Ian Howbert hit a trey to push it back to 22-16, but Samples and Stearns scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 22-20 before Trent Rollins knocked down a trey with 41 seconds remaining to give Parkway its first lead at 23-22.
Adam Hoersten quickly gave Fort Jennings the lead back with 21 seconds to play, but Berry scored with five ticks left to send Parkway to the locker room up 25-24.
Fort Jennings was not prepared to concede, getting the lead back just over 90 seconds into the third quarter on a Howbert bucket. Stearns hit a free throw followed by Devon Crouch getting a layup off a turnover to put Parkway back in front 30-29.
A Samples trey and a Stearns layup had Parkway up six with a chance to pull away, but the Musketeers fought back and got a tie at 37-all with 51 seconds to play on a Jarron Swick basket. Owen Calvelage then hit a trey with 21 seconds left in the quarter to give the Musketeers a 40-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
As the quarter began, Fort Jennings tried to apply a coup de grâce, going up 47-38 with 4:37 to play on a Howbert trey. Hughes immediately called timeout to challenge his team.
Parkway's Wyatt Carpenter takes a jump shot against Fort Jennings.
Wyatt Carpenter stepped up, getting a bucket on the ensuing possession, then after a Fort Jennings miss, drove the lane, got the bucket and hit the free throw to cut the margin to 47-43 in a span of a half a minute.
"Wyatt kind of sparked us," said coach Hughes. "It was good to see us respond after being in a deep hole."
Over a minute came off the clock before the Musketeers put the lead back to six on a pair of Howbert free throws, but Parkway was gaining momentum. Samples hit a trey to get the deficit within a possession at 49-46.
After the Musketeers missed two free throws, Stearns drove and scored to cut it to 49-48 with 1:45 to play. The Musketeers slowed the game down to try to force Parkway to foul twice and put them at the free throw line, but lost the ball, and Hughes called timeout with 44.4 seconds to play.
The Panthers moved the ball around before Berry got the ball inside and scored with 21 seconds remaining to put Parkway back in front.
Parkway's Trevor Stearns goes up for a layup against Fort Jennings at Panther Gymnasium in Rockford.
Fort Jennings called two timeouts, the second with 4.2 seconds left to set up a play. The inbounds got away from the Musketeers and Berry dove for the ball as the buzzer sounded, and the Parkway student section stormed the court to celebrate.
Samples, who entered the game averaging just two points per game, finished with a team-high 17 points for Parkway.
"That's the great thing about this team. There's not one or two individuals. It's different guys stepping up," said coach Hughes. "Caiden's been playing extremely well.Trent and Trevor carried us early on. Now you see Xavier stepping up. You see Wyatt step up like he did. Numerous guys have really helped us and spread it out (to) make it hard to guard us."
Swick led all players with 20 points. Howbert added 19.
Now Parkway makes the trek to Heckman Gymnasium to face the Big Green of Ottoville (16-6).
"You find a way to win this game. We did a lot of good things, but have things we need to correct," said coach Hughes. "It's definitely something to build on, to win at home. Now we'll carry that momentum into Friday."
