Heading into Friday night's game at Wooster without his top three scorers, Douglas boys' basketball head coach Rob Streeter was simply looking at the game as a chance to peek into the future.
What he ended up with however, was one heck of a ballgame.
Keith Olson (foot), Mike Gransbery (toe) and Jeff Nady (calf) were all out with injuries, but the remaining nine players on Douglas' roster managed to pull out a 76-71 victory over the Colts in overtime despite leading by as many as 23 in the first half.
"Through the first half of the game, I was very pleased with how we were playing," Streeter said. "They just lost that intensity as the game went on."
Wooster put together a monster rally in the fourth after trailing by 18 to start, outscoring the Tigers 33-15, including a 10-1 through the middle of the period.
"That was just the inexperience showing," Streeter said. "They were out there playing scared. Every time Wooster scored, you could see our guys looking up at the scoreboard.
"They were playing not to loose, it was that simple."
The Colts' Darien Andrews hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to tie the score up at 66. After Douglas' James McLaughlin made a layup with 13.2 seconds left to put Douglas up 68-66, Andrews struck again with a layup of his own with eight seconds remaining.
With the score tied Douglas turned the ball over and Andrews had one last shot with 3 seconds left that sailed just long before the buzzer.
In overtime, Nate Whalin hit a layup and drew a foul, which he converted for a 71-68 lead.
It would be the last field goal of the game for the Tigers, who put the game away with five free throws.
It was a valiant effort on senior night for the Colts, who got 19 points from Andrews, 14 from David Torres and 11 from Deondre Brown.
Douglas opened the game with a press defense, a look that Streeter said he wants to favor next season, and did quite well with it.
After Wooster worked out to a 6-4 lead, Douglas went on a 15-0 run sparked by multiple turnovers before the Colts could cross the halfcourt line.
Douglas took a 19-9 first-quarter lead and parlayed it into another long run, this time 16-2, and pushed the lead to 37-14 by halftime.
The Tigers had another 8-0 run in the third quarter, with steals and interceptions coming in between each basket, to go up 48-25, but Wooster went on a 10-5 run to close out the quarter.
Joe Nady briefly broke that up with a free throw to open the fourth, but then the Colts launched runs of 6-0 and 10-1 to bring the score to 59-51.
From there, Douglas started playing to survive.
"In the end, we got it done, they managed to pull it through," Streeter said. "It was just a sloppy way to do it."
Junior David Laird led the way for the Tigers, scoring 17 points 11 of which came from the free-throw line.
Junior Ryan McPeek thrived in the extra playing time, scoring 13 points with one 3-pointer and senior Joe Nady and sophomore James McLaughlin each had 11.
Whalin and Herman Fillmore each added six and Kevin Emm finished with five.
All but one of Douglas' nine active players put points on the board against the Colts.
The Tigers next take on Damonte Ranch today at 5 p.m. in Reno.
Douglas used a big first quarter and didn't look back, taking a 70-43 win over Wooster Friday night.
The Tigers outscored the Colts 24-7 in the opening period, and Wooster wouldn't get any closer.
Bridget Maestretti led the way for the Tigers, scoring 13 points with three 3-pointers and Jessica Waggoner had 12 points, despite limited minutes in the second half due to the score.
Michelle Richardson and Sarah Hartley each scored eight and Kaela Horse, Kristin Wyatt and Katie Buffo each scored six.
Allie Hughes finished with three points and Nicole Didero and Lisa Christen each finished with two.
Douglas travels to Damonte Ranch today at 3:15 p.m.
