KEYSTONE  51, JOHNSONBURG 43, OT

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Feb. 24, 2010 - District 9 Class A Boys' First Round

Some of the information for this story was found in the Feb. 25 edition of the Ridgway Record

JOHNSONBURG – Ninth-seeded Keystone scored the final eight points of overtime to knock off eighth-seeded Johnsonburg 51-43 in the opening round of the District 9 Class A boys’ basketball playoffs Wednesday night at Johnsonburg.

The Panthers (15-8) led by as many as nine, 28-19, midway through the third quarter and by five, 40-35, with two minutes to play only to watch Johnsonburg (15-10) come storming back thanks to a pair of Joe Holmberg 3-pointers, the last with 34 seconds left, to tie the game at 41 and force overtime.

But after each team scored at the start of the extra session with a basket, Keystone took the lead for good on a Ben Marchand bucket. The Panthers then scored their final six points of the game from the free-throw line, but that wasn’t without its trouble with Keystone converting just 6 of 12 free throws down the stretch.

The game was tight early with the two teams knotted at 10 at the end of the first quarter. But Keystone outscored Johnsonburg 12-7 in the second quarter to take a 22-17 halftime lead. The Panthers then started the second half on a 6-2 run to get the lead to nine before Johnsonburg started its comeback.

Lexan Montana and Nick Bowser led Keystone with 12 points each while Marchand added 11 and Zuck and Reed eight apiece.

Holmberg paced Johnsonburg with a game-high 18 points with Aaron Patrick adding 10. Matt Shuey chipped in eight points and eight rebounds but had half of Johnsonburg’s uncharacteristically low 16 boards, seven on the offense end.

Keystone will now face KSAC-South rival and No. 1 seed A-C Valley at 8 p.m. Friday at A-C Valley. The Panthers lost twice to the Falcons this season falling 69-40 at A-C Valley Jan. 6 before losing 56-50 at A-C Valley Feb. 13.

KEYSTONE 51, JOHNSONBURG 43, overtime

Score by Quarters

Keystone 10 12 8 11 10 – 51

J-burg 10 7 12 12 2 – 43

Keystone – 51

Marchand 11 points, Zuck 8 points, Reed 8 points, Montana 12 points, Bowser 12 points

Johnsonburg – 43

Patrick 5 0-0 10, Holmberg 7 0-0 18, Gorske 0 0-0 0, Mike Shuey 0 1-2 1, Imbrogno 1 4-4 6, Weible 0 0-0 0, Matt Shuey 4 0-2 8. Totals 17 5-8 43.

Jburg 3-pointers 4 (Holmberg 4).