One District 5-A loss at home was bad enough.

A second straight would've been unthinkable for the Arts & Sciences boys' basketball team.

The unthinkable almost became reality on Friday night, when the Patriots had to fight for a 57-52 overtime victory over Silverdale Baptist Academy

"It's still about executing under duress and following a game plan," CSAS coach Mark Dragoo said. "It's our 21st game of the year, and we're still struggling with that. But Silverdale played very well tonight, and you have to give them a lot of credit."

CSAS (8-13, 5-2) dropped a rare home game on Tuesday against rival Grace Academy, and struggled in the first half of Friday's senior-night matchup against the Seahawks. Silverdale took an 11-point lead on Nate Jackson's three-point play with 2:45 remaining in the second quarter before the Patriots closed out the half on a 7-0 run.

After trailing 28-24 at the half, CSAS tied the score a little over a minute into the third quarter. From there, the lead changed eight times before the end of regulation and was tied six times during that span as the teams battled for control.

"We talked at halftime about how they needed to focus on what we had practiced, and that someone had to step up and be a leader," Dragoo said. "I told them that if we didn't start talking more on defense, we weren't going to win the game, so we talked a little more in the second half. Just enough to win."

The last tie came at the buzzer, when Silverdale's Justin Ragsdale sank a long two-pointer that many in the Silverdale crowd believed was a game-winning shot. Instead, his basket tied it at 47 and forced an extra period.

CSAS sailed the opening tip of overtime into the hands of Jonathan Kurtz, and he connected for the go-ahead score. Frank Brodgen, who was honored after the game along with seniors Kurtz and A.J. Collins, followed that with a basket on a steal from JaVaughn Craig to make it 51-47, but another three-point play from Jackson got Silverdale within one with 2:17 on the clock.

Kurtz then made the front end of a one-and-one and captured his own miss, which set up a score from Craig. Trailing by four with under a minute left to play, the Seahawks got a basket from Spencer Mossburg, but CSAS sealed the victory with a 3-for-4 performance from the line in the final 18.2 seconds.

Ragsdale finished with a game-high 16 points for Silverdale, while Brogden led the Patriots with 12 and Craig followed with 10. The teams will square off again on Monday before the Seahawks close out the regular season Tuesday against first-place Grace Academy. The District 5-A tournament will begin later next week.

"If there's anything positive to take from tonight, it's that we're not going to go over there Monday thinking that it's going to be easy," Dragoo said. "We had too many mental mistakes, offensively and defensively. You can't make those and be successful. If we can't get past that, it's going to be a short postseason for us."


(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)

ARTS & SCIENCES 57, SILVERDALE BAPTIST 52

Silverdale  11  17   5   14   5  --  52
CSAS           9  15  10  12  10 --  57

Silverdale (52) -- Delashmitt, Pemberton 9, Justin Ragsdale 16, Mossburg 9, Nate Jackson 12, Hall 4, Turner 2.
CSAS (57) -- Frank Brogden 12, JaVaughn Craig 10, Collins, Taylor 7, Kurtz 7, Gordon 8, Carter 7, Moore 6.
3-point goals: Silverdale 2 (Ragsdale, Mossburg); CSAS 2 (Craig, Carter).