Tigner sinks late shot to down Zanesville

Thursday night’s state tournament finale was a game of spurts, and Port Clinton delivered the final one en route to a dramatic 51-50 come back triumph over Zanesville in the Division II state semifinals at OSU’s Schottenstein Center. The Redskins trailed 48-41 late in the fourth quarter, but ended the stanza on a 10-2 run to earn a trip to Saturday’s Division II state championship against Dayton Dunbar (24-3).

Zanesville shook off some early jitters and decided enough was enough after falling behind 18-9 early in the second quarter.  Big Blue answered with 10 consecutive points to take a 19-18 lead with 2:27 remaining in the half.

Zanesville junior guard Tanner Gibson was instrumental in the run with six of his 12 opening half points. Senior Raheem Forman scored the other four and had six in the opening 16 minutes.

The Blue Devils took a 23-21 lead into the locker room then proceeded to run off nine-straight points to start the second half before Cory Brown drilled a triple to stop the bleeding for Port Clinton.

Big Blue expanded the lead to 40-29 before the Redskins answered with six points of their own to close the frame. The Redskins were fueled by 6-foot-6 senior Ryan Hicks who had eight in the quarter.

Brown canned back-to-back 3-pointers to give Port Clinton a 41-40 advantage with 5:40 to play in the game. Forman answered back with a tip-in goal to give the Blue Devils the lead right back ending a 12-0 Port Clinton spurt.  Gibson followed with a right wing jumper and then a four-point play off a right corner bonus ball that bounced off the rim then the top of the backboard and through the cylinder.

PC senior Allen Tiger cooled Big Blue off with two-free throws making the score 48-43 with less than three minutes remaining in the game.

Brown dialed up his fifth triple of the game to cut the lead to 48-46, but Zanesville followed with a pair of freebies, which would be Big Blue’s final points.

Tigner answered with an old-fashioned three-point play, but his biggest shot was yet to come.

After a Zanesville turnover, the Redskins went to work.

Tigner dropped home a floating bank-shot from the right block with three seconds remaining to give PC the lead and victory.  The 6-foot-2 senior then stole the long inbound pass and drew a foul with 1.2 seconds remaining. He missed the front end of a one-and-one but Hicks rebounded to seal the win.

Port Clinton, which improved to 26-0 on the year, got 15 points from Brown, 14 points and seven assists from Tigner, and 12 points from Hicks. Senior Josh Francis was held to just four points, which is 12 below his average.

The Redskins shot 57-percent for the game, including 69-percent in the second half on 11-of-16 shooting. PC was 5-of-7 from 3-point distance for the night, but just 4-of-11 from the free-throw line.

Zanesville (17-8) got a game-high 26 points from Gibson. Forman netted 12 and Jordan Bouterse added seven.