(Byfield MA) “I was afraid that they might call a foul, but I got all ball.”

That was how freshman Will Wertz explained it after his last-second block preserved Ipswich’s, 53-52, win over the Triton on Friday night.

The Vikings (1-3) had just three seconds to work with but perfectly executed an inbounds play to give Dylan Wilkinson (17 points) a look from the right corner.

Despite the loss, Triton coach Ted Schruender wasn’t totally surprised by the way things went.  “You had two evenly matched teams so it could have gone either way.  We were hot and then they were hot.”

There were nine lead changes early into the second half.

Then the Vikings, led by Dylan Wilkinson and Kyle Odoy (16 points) turned up the heat defensively (four Ipswich turnovers) and strung twelve straight points together in a 3 ½ minute segment of the third quarter.

The showcase performance sent the home team up, 36-26, with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Ipswich wasn’t done, however.

Kyle Odoy (16 points) splits two Tigers

“We really showed resilience tonight,” explained Ipswich coach Alan Laroche.  “We were down ten and didn’t stop believing that we could come back.”

And back the visitors came.

Triton’s, 42-32, lead vanished as Ipswich heated up.  The Tigers (2-2) had three’s from Charlie Henderson and Aidan O’Flynn putting twelve straight points together and regained the lead, 44-42, with four minutes left.

Ipswich took a two-point lead with twenty seconds remaining in regulation (Ray Cuevas layup) but senior Kyle Odoy (16 points) had a tying layup with eight seconds left to force OT.

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