HUNTINGTON – Kyan Frantz tried to turn his most pressure packed free throws of the season to the same ones he ends every practice with.
The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School boys basketball team was tied in the final minute of overtime against Gateway on Thursday. The game began Tuesday at Hampshire College – the Dragons’ home gym – before it needed to be suspended for a leak in the roof.
They resumed it from the same point two days later in Gateway’s gym. The Dragons, who hadn’t won a game all season, gave up a six-point lead to get to overtime. They traded baskets for the first five minutes until Frantz went to the line with a chance to put PVCICS ahead.
He tried to tune everything out: the pressure and the hostile crowd for what was, in the scorebook at least, a home game.
“I remember just going back to practice and shooting my free throws. We do five every practice,” Frantz said. “Just tuning the noise out and focusing on my form and putting it up.”
He made both and helped secure a 47-46 victory, PVCICS’ first of the season. Jesse Carnegie-Toutant added another free throw with 14.3 seconds left to extend the Dragons’ lead to three, but that gave Gateway a shot to tie and send the game to overtime.
The Gators missed that chance but tossed in a layup at the buzzer off an offensive rebound to narrow the margin.
The Dragons celebrated, jumping off the bench and high-fiving. Their first win of the season took two days and an extra five minutes, so there were some pent up cheers to release.
“It couldn’t have been harder,” PVCICS coach Brian Waldron said. “But it was a great win, and it was good to see the guys pull that one off.”
Frantz led the Dragons with 17 points. Odin Moore (11 points) and Silas Bishop (10) also reached double figures for PVCICS (1-11).
“I know we put in so much work this season,” Frantz said. “We’ve had a lot of freshmen this year who haven’t really played much competitive basketball so I think a lot of improvement and hard work has really paid off and it’s been really exciting, especially in such a close game.”
Then, 10 minutes later, the teams lined up to tip the ball again for the second half of their league home and home session. The Gators still had the sting of the overtime defeat fresh on their minds.
“They were very self motivated,” Gateway coach Nick Balboni said. “They were excited to put that game behind them, and they were really fired up.”
The Gators scored 17 of the game’s first 19 points and won 63-31. Gateway (3-7) also used a 14-0 run to open the second quarter and erase any doubt.
“With how (the first game) ended, it fire me up to try and dominate the next game,” Gateway’s Jayden Santiago-Lopez said.
Santiago-Lopez led the way with 20 points. Leo Balboni also contributed 13.
Xavier Gomez scored his first varsity points on a 3-pointer to open the contest, which sparked Gateway’s game-opening run.
“Immediately, we were like, we’re in this right now,” Leo Balboni said.
Eight of the nine Gators found the score sheet.
“We don’t have a deep bench as it is,” Nick Balboni said. “We have five seniors on the team, so it was good to get them all out there together.”
Ten of the 11 Dragons scored in Game 2, and Bishop led the way with seven points.
“We were still high on that first game, and I think it led to a little bit of laziness,” Frantz said. “Coming out of the first game, we celebrated as much as we can, and I think we’re probably gonna continue.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.