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Wadsworth's Barry Fernholz looks to get the ball inside against Cloverleaf and Brandon Johnson, during Wadsworth's 67-45 victory over the Colts on Friday night.

ROOTSTOWN, Ohio – The Rootstown Rovers entered the fourth quarter of Friday’s Portage Trail Conference County Division showdown with the Woodridge Bulldogs down by seven points and with one of their senior leaders battling through an injury.

None of that mattered however, as Rootstown rallied for a 60-58 win in front of its home crowd to stay right in the thick of the race.  Entering Friday’s action, six teams were within a game of first place in the division.

Rovers senior guard Mike Conley injured his hip diving for a loose ball in the second quarter and was held scoreless in the third quarter but came back with a vengeance in the final period.  With his team trailing 50-43 Conley looked like a man on a mission, scoring Rootstown’s next eight points to draw the game to a one-point difference at 52-51 in favor of Woodridge with five minutes left.

“I got injured earlier so my main goal was to pick it up and play through the injury,” said Conley, who finished with a team-high 18 points. “So I got it jump-started and the team carried it from there.

It was that point where Bulldogs coach Brian Fantone made a strategic decision following a timeout.  Woodridge killed two minutes off the clock before senior forward Shane Roberts drove in and made a basket with less than three minutes remaining.  Roberts missed the ensuing foul shot, but the Bulldogs came up with the ball, and Nick Flasco scored again for a four-point Woodridge swing and a 56-51 lead.

“Give them credit for making the plays they had to to get the win,” Fantone said.  “They were sitting back in that zone, and for me playing with the lead, we don’t want to give them more possessions than we need and it worked. We got the and-one. We just couldn’t extend the lead.”

The Rovers went on a 9-0 run powered by senior forwards Kyle Ringler, Josh Lane and strong free-throw shooting before Woodridge’s Nelson Perry made the game’s final basket with less than a second remaining.

“We had to come together, not get down on ourselves and our teammates,” Rootstown coach Steve Beshara said.  “We were fortunate tonight.”

Ringler and Lane started the final run sinking four-of-four free throws on back-to-back possessions, then Ringler gave Rootstown the lead for good at 57-56 with less than 40 seconds remaining.  Rovers senior Joey Siciliano split a pair of free throws to put Rootstown up by two with 16 seconds remaining, and when Woodridge couldn’t make a shot on their its possession, Lane picked up the rebound and hit two game-clinching foul shots with seven seconds left.

“The difference in this game was that we made free throws all night, but especially down the stretch,” Beshara said.  “(Kyle and Josh) both stepped it up in the second half.

“Kyle, boy, he’s coming up with some big baskets in some big moments.”

The game started as a back-and-fourth affair with two ties and four lead changes in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Conley to give the Rovers 13-11 lead.  The second period was much of the same as the teams exchanged the lead eight times, including a stretch where five straight buckets changed the advantage, and Rootstown held a 29-28 lead at the break.

The third quarter progressed in much of the same fashion as the lead changed hands eight times on the period's first 11 buckets, but then the Bulldogs seemed to grab hold of some of the momentum.  With the score tied at 39, Perry sank four straight buckets for a 9-0 Woodridge run to take a 48-39 lead just before the end of the quarter.

“We have to get better at the little things,” Fantone said.  “We’ll bounce back and be right there in the league race.”

The win was big for Rootstown as it draws even with Woodridge and stays just one game back of Windham, who beat Mogadore 66-58 on Friday – the Garrettsville Garfield versus Southeast score had not been reported at the time of this article.

“I don’t think we were even mentioned as a contender for the league title, and I’m not saying we are yet,” Conley said.  “We’re pulling it together, and I think we’re only going to get better as the year goes on.”

The Rovers continue their battle in the County Division with games against the G-Men and Pirates over the next seven days.

In other boys basketball games:

AKRON GARFIELD 76, AKRON NORTH 53. At North High School, senior Darius Hoisten scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the visiting Golden Rams to victory over the Vikings.

Seniors Jorden Boykin and Dezmond Love dropped in 12 points and 11 points, respectively for Garfield (3-6, 1-3 City Series). Sophomore Brelyn Brewton had a team-leading 12 rebounds.

Damon Bowman had 18 points to lead North (0-9, 0-4). Junior Marcus Robbins added 15 points, and sophomore Edward Harris put up 11 points for the Vikings.

BENDECTINE 58, WALSH JESUIT 57. At Cuyahoga Falls, Mark Mittiga's 17 points led the way for the Warriors in the losing effort.

Antoine Smith, Spencer Boyd and Trent Donald each scored eight points for Walsh Jesuit (6-3).

CUYAHOGA FALLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 67, MANCHESTER 50. At Cuyahoga Falls, junior guard Bob Peters scored 31 points, including three 3-pointers as the Royals jumped to an early lead and earned the victory over the Panthers.

Sophomore Marty Lee scored 10 points for CVCA (5-4).

Senior Greg Shoemaker scored 17 to lead Manchester (3-6). Sophomore Austin Klein added 14 for the Panthers.

KENT ROOSEVELT 51, SPRINGFIELD 46. At Kent, senior guard Zach Brett scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and the Rough Riders (5-2, 5-0) rallied from a dismal first half to overtake the Spartans (1-6, 1-4).

EAST CANTON 55, WATERLOO 40. At Osnaburg Township, Duke Taylor scored 12 points to lead East Canton (4-5, 2-3).

Jacob Podnar had 15 points, and Zack Morgan 11 for Waterloo (0-7, 0-5).

RAVENNA 71, COVENTRY 67. At Coventry Township, Tyler Plaso’s 20 points led the Ravens over the Comets in overtime.

Tate Bennett added 14 points for Ravenna.

STOW-MUNROE FALLS 53, HUDSON 45. At Hudson, Kyle Scelza went off for 30 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead the Bulldogs to the Northeast Ohio Conference victory.

Stow (7-1) is 3-0 in NOC games this season.

Senior Mike Waggoner put in 13 points for the Bulldogs. Stow still is without its 6-foot-5 senior point guard David Walker (wrist).

Hudson (5-5, 0-3) was led by senior Randall Berkley’s 14 points. Junior Alex Albright scored 12 points for the Explorers.

STREETSBORO 55, FIELD 46. At Brimfield Township, the visiting Rockets got 16 points from Ben Gency and used a 12-4 first quarter to get an early lead and eventually win the game.

Jordan Matusik added 12 points for Streetsboro (5-3, 4-1), and Devin Rencher scored 10.

Field (2-5, 1-4) was led by senior Jake Kruse’s 16 points. Senior Kody Lowden dropped I 14 for the Falcons, who outscored the Rockets 31-29 in the second half.

WINDHAM 66, MOGADORE 58. At Mogadore, four players scored in double digits for Windham, led by freshman Parker Rickey, who had 15 points.

Junior Matt Knight scored 14, while sophomore Jared Taylor and junior Cameron Pozsgai put up 13 and 10 points, respectively for Windham.

Mogadore’s Hunter Van Camp led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Austin Pierce (12) and Michael Duma (11).

WELLINGTON 74, BLACK RIVER 31. At Sullivan Township, Jason Perry scored 13 points, and 12 players scored for Wellington (7-1, 5-0) in the win over the Pirates.

Black River (1-6, 0-5) was led by John Guilford’s 11 points.

WADSWORTH 67, CLOVERLEAF 45. At Wadsworth, senior Josh Kipfer scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies (4-3, 2-3) over the visiting Colts.

Zack Miglich had 15 points for Cloverleaf (1-8, 0-5).