Walnut Ridge Upends Dublin Coffman in Play-By-Play Classic

Day one of 9th Annual Ohio Play-By-Play Classic tipped off on Saturday at Capital University in Columbus, and the opening contest of a 4-game slate featured an Ohio Capital Conference versus Columbus City League matchup between (8-2) Dublin Coffman and (8-3) Walnut Ridge. Walnut Ridge struck first with a mid-range jumper by Dwayne Bazemore, but the opening quarter was a seesaw affair that ended with a 13-14 Dublin Coffman lead. Unfortunately for Walnut Ridge, big man Dwayne Bazemore was forced to the bench with 2 fouls with 1:28 left in the opening quarter. The second quarter was much of the same as each team took turns playing with a lead; however, Coffman was able to eek out a 2 point lead and entered the locker room up 22-20.

In the second half, Coffman got off to a positive start with a Chris Heine trey from the wing. Dwayne Bazemore made an immediate impact with his return and knocked down 3 straight buckets in the paint to tie the game at 29-29. Ridge’s defensive pressure forced consecutive turnovers by Coffman and led to back-to-back buckets by Austin Traylor and a 34-32 Walnut Ridge lead. Bazemore returned to the bench after he picked up his 3rd foul with 1:40 left in 3rd quarter. With time runniing out in the 3rd, the Scots held the ball for the last shot, and Isaiah Brooks converted a pull-up jumper to take a 37-34 lead into the 4th quarter.

After Coffman took a couple of questionable shots and missed on its first 2 possessions, Walnut Ridge increased the lead to 39-34 with an Austin Traylor layup. Coffman finally got on the board in the 4th quarter with a trey by Matt Dithomas. Eric Weisenbach hit a corner trey to give Coffman a 40-39 lead, but Ridge came right back with a layup to retake the lead. Bazemore returned to the game with 3:20 left, immediately drew a foul on Wisenbach, and went on to hit both free throws to give Ridge a 45-44 lead.

With 1:49 left in regulation, Ridge held the ball and a 45-41 lead. Dublin Coffman was forced to foul Adam McCall with 1:08 left, sending him to the line to shoot 1-and-1. McCall missed the front end, but a steal and a layup by McCall put Ridge ahead 47-44 with 40 seconds left. Regulation ended with a 47-47 tie after a baseline drive by Isaiah Brooks missed the mark. Walnut Ridge went on to win the contest by a score of 51-48 in overtime. The leading scorer and MVP for Walnut Ridge was Austin Traylor who dropped a game-high 20 points. Dwayne Bazemore finished with 14 points, followed by Isiaih Brooks (6) and Adam McCall (5). The top guy of Coffman was Zack Riddle who finished with a team-high 12 points and MVP honors. Chris Heine finished with 7 points and Eric Weisenbach contributed 6 points. To see some of the pictures I took at the game, visit the Buckeye Prep Facebook Fan Page. Checkout Cap City Preps' game video.