Genesee Region/Niagara-Orleans Showdown live blogging - Oakfield-Alabama/Akron
7:34 p.m. - About 15 minutes until tip-off and GCC is packed. Genesee Region League fans are pumped after Pembroke's big win and Ken Babcock's dominant performance and are pumped for the highlight game of the Showdown. All the talk has revolved around J.C. Tretter and Noah Seward, so down low is where the action will probably be.
8:04 p.m. - Tretter is as good as advertised. He might be the first player this season that has made Seward look small. He held O-A's big man to four points in the first quarter, while scoring eight points, but the Hornets are leading 13-12 after eight minutes. Tim Smith hit a 3-pointer with Chris Bucceri, , A.J. Kehlenbeck and Sam McCracken each getting a basket.
8:18 p.m. - The Hornets were doing a good job keeping the ball away from Tretter as Seward had a big quarter, but Akron went on a 7-0 run near the end of the half to get back in the game.
Seward immediately started the second quarter with a bucket and free throw to put the Hornets up 16-12. McCracken had a foul shot and Josh Athoe drained a trifecta to put O-A ahead by eight points.
After Alec Short and Seward exchanged backets, Tretter had a soft layup and grabbed the rebound on a missed dunk attempt by Trevor Short and put that back in to cut the score to 22-19. Alec Short hit a jumper and it was a one point game before Seward scored the final basket to put O-A up 24-21 at halftime.
8:43 p.m. - Akron made a late run in the third quarter and jumped right back into the game and only trails Oakfield-Alabama 38-37.
The Tigers were down six right away as Brad Riner drained a 3-pointer, but the teams exchanged baskets for a while with Akron cutting the deficit to 32-31 when Alec Short hit a trey halfway through the period.
A double-foul was called as Seward and Tretter were getting a little too physical in the paint on the next possession.
Riner and Athoe hit a back-to-back buckets to make the score 36-31, but Alec Short had two foul shots, Trevor Short scored and Ryan Peters finished off the period with a bucket.
9:08 p.m. - Akron scored the first basket and then trailed Oakfield-Alabama the rest of the way. That is until there was 1:09 left in the contest.
The Hornets had a three point lead when Seward banged in a pair of foul shots with 5 1/2 minutes left. Tretter hit one to cut it to three points and a couple minutes later the game was stopped when an Akron player landed on Seward, knocking the wind out of him.
McCracken missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2 1/2 minutes left and Tretter put one in moments later to cut the deficit to 44-43.
Then with 1:09 left in the game, Trevor Short received a pass at about the foul line and hit a turnaround jumper to put the Tigers up 45-44. Riner missed a shot at the other end and O-A got the rebound. This time the ball was poked away from Smith and the Hornets had to foul.
Trevor Short hit both free throws after getting fouled with 22 seconds left. McCracken took the inbounds pass for O-A and took it coast-to-coast for a basket with 15 seconds remaining. Akron had a 47-46 lead and the Hornets had to foul again.
Short again drained both free throws to put the Tigers up three. This time Riner missed a layup and Tretter grabbed his final rebound of the game.
The final score was Akron 49, Oakfield-Alabama 46.
Tretter and Seward each finished with 17 points in the battle of the big men. But the difference wound up being Short, who scored 15 points and was clutch in the closing minutes.
The Niagara-Orleans League won six games while the Genesee Region League had just two winners.
