Wylie East’s Mikiyas Abiy (23) and Brayden Doolan (30) attempt to block a shot attempt by Sachse’s Caleb Lindsey (22) on Friday. Photo by Elijah Kloepping / C&S Media
By David Wolman
Ever since the Wylie East boys basketball team had a “Come to Jesus” moment after a 1-4 start to District 9-6A play, the Raiders have responded with five straight wins, and they have won in different ways.
Friday afternoon’s road game against Sachse required a comeback.
With the Mustangs holding a four-point lead with less than 40 seconds left during the fourth quarter and using a “spread-delay” offense to take valuable seconds off the clock, Sachse appeared to be in firm control.
However, Sachse missed three free throws over that span of play, and Wylie East made the Mustangs pay for those missed foul shots in an eventual 71-67 overtime win. Senior Praise Olufemi forced overtime after he made two free throws with 4.6 seconds to go in regulation and the Raiders finished the game on a 9-1 run after the Mustangs scored the first four points of overtime.
“I feel like we’ve been battle-tested, and I have the utmost confidence in our guys,” head coach Kortney Smith said. “We weren’t going to stop, and we were going to fight until the end. That’s what we’ve been preaching. That’s what we’ve been working on. It showed in the end.”
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