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Rancocas Valley downs Cherry Hill West in OT

With his team down by seven points with less than a minute remaining in regulation, Rancocas Valley forward Darius Dooley wasn't thinking about winning the game.

Battling for a rebound are Cherry Hill West's Can Oztamur (12) and Rancocas Valley's Jordan Cole during the first half at Cherry Hill West. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
Battling for a rebound are Cherry Hill West's Can Oztamur (12) and Rancocas Valley's Jordan Cole during the first half at Cherry Hill West. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff PhotographerRead more

With his team down by seven points with less than a minute remaining in regulation, Rancocas Valley forward Darius Dooley wasn't thinking about winning the game.

He just wanted the Red Devils to keep playing hard.

"I wasn't worried about whether or not we could win," Dooley said. "I wanted us to play to the end. If you do that, you never know what can happen."

Sparked by Dooley and senior Ned Ogoemesim, Rancocas Valley rallied to force overtime Sunday and completed the dramatic comeback with a 69-67 victory over host Cherry Hill West in the Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic.

"There's only one thing we've done consistently well at RV and that's play hard," Rancocas Valley coach Jay Flanagan said. "They did that and that's what I'm most proud of."

Ogoemesim, playing in his second game since becoming eligible as a transfer from Life Center, scored all 22 of his points after halftime.

Dooley generated 11 rebounds with six points and junior guard Adam Perry scored 16 for Rancocas Valley (8-4), the No. 10 team in The Inquirer Top 20.

Senior guard Elijah Bey scored 23 points and junior forward Danny Buckwalter added 18 for No. 11 Cherry Hill West (10-3).

"We had it and we let it get away," Cherry Hill West coach Hamisi Tarrant said. "We know we're good enough to win, but that's two [losses] in a row where we kind of let things get away from us. We have to be mentally tougher in those situations. We're getting there."

The teams combined for 18 three-pointers in the fast-paced game, including nine in a speeding bullet of a third quarter.

Rancocas Valley took a 52-51 lead on Ogoemesim's three-pointer from the corner early in the fourth quarter.

But Cherry Hill West went on a 6-0 run to seize command as Can Oztamur made two free throws, Bey hit a jumper off the move and Buckwalter scored inside off a nice feed from Oztamur.

The Lions stretched their advantage to 64-57 when Oztamur made one of two free throws with 0:59 on the clock.

"We didn't give up," Flanagan said. "We played to the end."

The Red Devils scored the last seven points of regulation as well as the first four of overtime. The 6-foot-1 Ogoemesim started the run with a putback basket and tied the score on another hoop off an offensive rebound at the 0:13 mark.

Rancocas Valley also got a big three-point jumper from senior Jordan Cole that cut the deficit to 64-62 at the 0:29 mark.

"It shows we have heart," Ogoemesim said. "We all believe in this team. That's all it takes, heart and belief."

Cherry Hill West was hurt by two turnovers and a missed one-and-one in the final 40 seconds.

"With all that, if we get that rebound [on Ogoemesim's putback that tied the score], we win the game," Tarrant said.

Dooley opened the overtime scoring with a putback basket and junior guard Brenden Ruby (10 points) added another bucket off a drive to push the Red Devils in front by 68-64.

Dooley had six of his rebounds after the third quarter.

"He's our unsung hero," Flanagan said.

Rancocas Valley 10 15 22 17 5 - 69

Cherry Hill West 8 15 26 15 3 - 67

RV: Ned Ogoemesim 22, Darius Dooley 6, Brenden Ruby 10, Adam Perry 16, Shaun Bradley 4, Aaron Little 2, Jordan Cole 9.

CHW: Elijah Bey 23, Bruce Neal 4, Can Oztamur 13, Danny Buckwalter 18, Jack Goan 9.