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Whittier gamble pays off in OT

Tuesday, January, 03 By Hector Longo

HAVERHILL — There were no scratch tickets, Megabucks or Powerball for Tommy Sipsey on the ride home last night.

The Whittier Tech boys hoop coach did all his gambling on the court yesterday, coming away with his club's unbeaten mark still intact.

Sipsey's Wildcats moved to 6-0 on the year, knocking off defending Commonwealth Conference champion Chelsea in overtime, 75-70.

For four quarters, the two clubs ran at each other. Each held commanding leads but neither could land the knockout blow.

Twice, the Wildcats went up a dozen only to fritter the margin. And Chelsea led 49-41 — going in for a breakaway layup in the final minute of the third — only to have Wildcat phenom Ryan Grant conjure up some magic in an 8-0 run to open the fourth.

Each team jabbed in the fourth but with 30 seconds left in the fourth, Chelsea held the ball in a 59-59 tie.
Instead of letting the Devils play for the last shot, Sipsey had his club foul intentionally.

"I looked at it that we had lost one starter (Gio Gomez) to fouls and had two others with four fouls," said Sipsey. "I looked at it that if they even miss one, and we get the ball back, down 1, with 18 seconds left, we're going to be OK the way we've been playing offensively."

Samuel Mojica made both, putting Chelsea up 61-59 with 20 seconds to play.

But Whittier escaped unscathed in the final seconds when Grant's desperation three fell a foot short, right into the waiting arms of Marck Galva, who banked it home at the buzzer, forcing the extra session.

"I couldn't be happier for Marck," said Sipsey. "There's a kid who has worked so hard to make himself into a player. All that work showed up for us on that play."

The extra session belonged to Grant and freshman up-and-comer Gage Alicea (eight points).

In the OT turning point, Grant buried a long three to crack a 63-63 tie and Alicea stripped Mojica of the inbounds pass and scooped home a righty hook to put the Cats ahead for good at 68-63.

"That's huge for a kid like the freshman to step up there," said Sipsey. "To sit the whole first half and then come in and impact like he did in the second was just amazing."

Grant led all scorers with 27 on the night, adding six boards and six assists. Gomez had 14 points, and Galva chipped in 10 points with 15 boards.