Eight players scored for the 11th Engineer Battalion Team 2 as it avoided a second consecutive loss and defeated the 75th Ranger Regiment 56-51 in overtime Wednesday.
Though the Rangers maintained the lead through the majority of the second half, missed free throws allowed the Engineers to tie the game with less than 10 seconds remaining, forcing overtime.
The Rangers went through a stretch where they missed 10 consecutive free-throw attempts, which affected the outcome of the game.
“Our effort at the free-throw line is what ultimately killed us,” Rangers coach Sam Billins said.
Kory Smith hit the game-tying basket with 1.9 seconds remaining after a drive-and-spin move that created space to give him an open look. The ball teetered on the edge of the rim for a brief moment before falling into the net.
The Engineers took that momentum and outscored the Rangers 9-4 in overtime. Samuel Genovese opened the overtime period with a 3-pointer to spark the run for the Engineers after he had missed all his previous 3-point attempts.
Engineers coach Bernard Jones said his team did everything it didn’t do last week against D Company, 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry, in order to pull out the win. 2/29 defeated the Engineers 37-36 on Feb. 9. Jones said the most important thing the Engineers improved on was boxing out to avoid giving up offensive rebounds.
“The Rangers like to shoot the long ball and they have good shooters,” Jones said. “When you shoot the long ball you tend to get long rebounds. (We) had to find somebody and box them out.”
Wednesday’s game was the third time in 10 days where the top three teams in League One played each other. 2/29 came away with wins over the Engineers and Rangers.
While the Engineers gained confidence by avoiding consecutive losses against their two biggest competitors, Billins said the Rangers will have to put the losses to 2/29 and the Engineers behind them as they head into the playoffs.
He said three of his starters were unable to participate in Wednesday’s game and that could have contributed to the loss.
“We didn’t have the leadership to rekindle the fire that we had,” Billins said. He hopes to have his team at full strength come playoff time.
