The Blue and Gold Holiday Tournament continued for Willow Springs today as they faced off against the Stockton Tigers.
Willow Springs came out of the gate swinging, taking charge of the game early on, clearly aiming to take the consolation bracket. The Bears ended the first quarter leading the Tigers, 16 to 9.
The Bear’s had a cold second quarter, missing several shots and allowing Stockton to quickly close the score gap and even exceed the Bears for a short period. With the second quarter ending, the Bears now only led the Tigers by 1 point, 26 to 25.
The third quarter continued with a a tight game for both teams, neither side gaining any major advantage over the other. The end of quarter three continued the trend of neither side letting up, with the bears maintaining a small advantage, 45 to 43.
The final stretch of the game saw with the pace of the game remaining true. Both teams remainged neck-and-neck, with the Tigers catching up with the Bears at the 50 score mark with 4 minutes left. Even as the timer ticked down close to zero, both teams maintained pace, with only 30 seconds left, both teams were scoring at 59. In the remaining 10 seconds, Willow managed to score a 3-point score, putting them in the lead. However, Stockton managed a three-pointer as well, sending the game into overtime.
The overtime section continued the games rivalry, with both teams playing tit-for-tat. However, the Bears managed to pull ahead with a 1-point lead with only 5 seconds remaining. However, the Tigers had the ball with only 3.9 seconds on the clock. A missed shot caused the game to end in favor of the Bears, a close game with a final score of 74 to 73, in favor of the Willow Springs Bears.
