Penns Valley boys’ basketball loses in overtime in District 6 semifinals

West Branch boys’ basketball coach Danny Clark thought about calling timeout.

But then he remembered last year’s state tournament, when his team was in a similar situation, when he let his team play the remaining seconds out instead of stopping play.

West Branch hit a buzzer-beating game-winner in that game.

On Tuesday night, the Warriors hit another one — this time, to tie.

Kody Trude jumped, pumped, tossed and converted a high-arcing 3-point attempt as the buzzer sounded, and he helped finish it out in overtime as West Branch (22-2) earned a 54-44 win over Penns Valley (18-5) in the District 6 Class AA semifinals at Tyrone High School.

West Branch is on to the title game, while Penns Valley will play Tyrone in Thursday’s consolation game, which will determine seeding for the PIAA Class AA tournament. Tyrone lost to top-seeded Bellwood-Antis 63-49 on Tuesday.

With Penns Valley up by three points after a Logan Pearce jumper with 10 seconds left in regulation, Rams coach Terry Glunt was trying to issue instructions to his team before Trude hit his miraculous trey.

“When we scored there to go up three, I’m screaming to foul,” Glunt said. “But this place was so loud, my guys didn’t hear me. We could also put the blame on me. I could have called a timeout and set up a defense, too.”

After Krude’s rainbow wonder, the Warriors dominated the four-minute overtime period. Krude hit a layup, and fellow senior Austin Krise had two breakaway steals turn into crowd-igniting layups, snatching the momentum for West Branch.

Trude hit a pair of free throws, and junior guard Justin Rothrock had a fastbreak layup to close out a 10-0 overtime period.

“The kids responded in overtime,” Clark said. “Kody and Austin stepped up.”

West Branch even being in position for Krude’s 3-pointer was startling. Penns Valley held a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter, and had the game to its preferred tempo.

The Rams pushed that lead even further to 13 after a 6-0 spurt to start the final period of regulation.

But Krise hit two life-reviving 3-pointers, and from that point forward, West Branch closed the fourth quarter on an 11-4 run.

“Down seven, our kids stayed with it,” Clark said. “They didn’t give up for one second, hustled with pure heart.”

Pearce’s jumper was a sweet one, and looked like it would be enough.

But the Warriors shocked everyone.

Glunt wasn’t pleased with the overtime period, saying the pressure got to his players in the final four minutes.

“We would like to have them back,” the coach noted.

Now, the Rams have to move past the defeat, and focus on Tyrone, a team they beat 63-36 on Feb. 5.

Penns Valley is already in the state tournament, but Thursday’s game will decide what team coming from District 6 will be the No. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively.

Glunt hopes his team can rebound.

“There’s obviously disappointment in that locker room,” Glunt said, “but we’ve got to come back on Thursday.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Penns Valley boys’ basketball loses in overtime in District 6 semifinals."