Brown, Lenape triumph in overtime

Avery Brown made up for lost time and forced overtime.

The senior forward sent the game into the extra period with three free throws with 0:04 on the clock in regulation and finished with 17 points as Lenape scored a 59-58 victory over Camden Catholic on Wednesday night in an Olympic Conference interdivision thriller.

"All I was thinking was 'I will make them,' " Brown said of his three free throws, which tied the score at 52 in Camden Catholic's gym. "I knew I had to take them one at a time."

Senior guard Kyle Robostello added 13 points and senior forward Evan Ward scored four of his nine in OT for Lenape (3-0).

Junior swingman Kyle Green scored 24 and senior forward Keith Arline added 12 for Camden Catholic (3-1), the No. 9 team in The Inquirer's South Jersey rankings.

"I liked our resilience to come back," Lenape coach Chuck Guittar said. "That's what I've been talking to these guys about. When things get hard, you don't point the finger."

Lenape led by 33-23 when junior forward Tabu Gaither made a three-point jumper early in the third quarter.

But Camden Catholic went on a 24-4 run, capped by Green's three-point play with 7 minutes, 1 second remaining in regulation. The 6-foot-4 Green scored nine in the surge, and also dished a pair of assists to Arline.

"We had to fight back on defense," Ward said. "We had to do it stop by stop because they were getting too many easier baskets."

Usually a starter, the 6-3 Brown didn't play in the first quarter. He came off the bench to score 17 in the middle three periods, including eight in Lenape's fourth-quarter rally.

Brown's two baseline drives for layups helped pull the Indians back into contention, and his block started a fastbreak that Robostello ended with a layup that pulled the visitors within 49-48 with 1:44 on the clock.

In a wild sequence at the end of regulation, Brown missed a three-pointer, Gaither missed a three, and Brown found himself with the ball outside the arc again as the final seconds wound down. But rather than shoot, Brown pump-faked, drawing a foul on a three-point attempt.

"I'm known as a guy who shoots a lot," Brown said. "I knew if I pumped, they would go for it."

Brown swished all three free throws, the second two coming after a Camden Catholic timeout.

"Once he made them, I said, 'That's it. We're winning in overtime,' " Ward said.

Ward made two free throws early in overtime, and scored the eventual game-winning points by muscling inside for a layup with 0:30 left.

"Once I got it inside, I knew I could score," Ward said.

Guittar thought the early-season showdown between two of South Jersey's top programs would help both teams in the long run.

"I'll play anybody," Guittar said. "I'm not worried about our record. I think we have a pretty good team and I like to see our guys competing in a game like this."

Lenape   19 10 8 15 7 – 59

Camden Catholic   9 14 19 10 6 – 58

L: Kyle Robostello 13, Avery Brown 17, Evan Ward 9, Sawyer Hand 3, Tabu Gaither 9, Arkemus Baskerville 9.

CC: Kyle Green 24, Matt McElhatton 11, Mike Crawford 4, Ivan Robinson 2, Keith Arline 12, Andrew Racobaldo 5.