Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — Kole Nungester is cold-blooded.
Circleville’s senior standout has scored some big-time buckets in his four years as a 1,000 career point scorer. But none have been bigger than Friday night’s.
With his Tigers down three and less than seven seconds left, he secured a long offensive rebound and buried a game-tying triple in overtime to push the game into double overtime.
“I got some space initially on the shot, but credit to the defender since he adjusted well and forced me to kind of double clutch the shot since I thought I had more time,” Nungester said. “I knew it was going short if I shot it at normal, so I put all the strength I could into it and it went in. I knew the job wasn’t over since we had double overtime, but they had their chance to close out and didn’t. So now, it was our time to finish.”
CREDIT: Raymond Gleadle/SOSA
From that point on, he scored 10 of his team’s 11 points in double overtime and helped Circleville (18-2) secure a 66-59 statement victory over Unioto in non-conference action.
“Kole completely took over in double overtime, and what a performance he had,” Circleville coach Evan Callihan said. “He was mad at himself for missing a pair of free throws in regulation. But it’s like I told him … ‘They’re not always going to go in, just move on.’ He kept his poise, hit a huge shot to extend the game and made some huge shots in double overtime for the win.”
Nungester had a slow start through three quarters, but when it was time for the rubber to meet the road, his tires were fresh off the shelf.
He had 12 points through three. But he scored 18 of the Tigers’ 30 points in the fourth, overtime and double overtime periods to complete his game-high 30 point effort, alongside nine rebounds.
“I was cold early on and I was settling for shots that were too far out,” Nungester said. “I knew that I needed to get downhill in the second half and see a couple shots go through. Once I see one go in, my confidence starts to grow. I got to the rim, got to the line and, even though I missed a couple, I continued attacking and the guys played really well around me. It was a great team win.”
Riley Jenkins and Jack Kline each opened the game with 3’s alongside a bucket each from Nungester and Auri Travis to give Circleville an early 10-7 lead.
Blake Fitch, however, scored a layup at the buzzer to bring Unioto (16-3) to within 10-9 and that got the Shermans going.
Fitch and Jaxon Zickafoose scored before Cayden Patterson buried a triple to complete a 9-0 run, making it a 16-10 lead — one that Unioto would carry into the break at 23-18.
PHOTOS: Images from Circleville’s win over Unioto
“That first half, I thought they out-hustled us. I thought they out-toughed us and that was one of our challenges at halftime,” Callihan said. “Fitch is so good off the two-man game. And I’m over there screaming at our guys, but I know how hard he is to guard.”
The Shermans kept their lead throughout the third, but the Tigers began to climb back. They trimmed the deficit to 29-27, but Fitch buried a 3 and Unioto’s Jack Welch scored inside to push the advantage to 34-29.
Still, the Tigers battled and Nungester and Jenkins scored the final two baskets of the frame to tie the game at 36-36.
Jenkins buried a trey to put the Tigers ahead early in the fourth, and that was followed by another 3 from Nungester before he came up with a steal and assist to Kline, completing an 8-2 run to put Circleville up 44-38.
“We play with an us against the world mindset, and we know a lot of people doubt us so we play every game to prove them wrong,” Jenkins said. “I didn’t make a ton of shots in the second half, so I continued to have confidence in myself to keep attacking and make a play for my team however I could.”
The Tigers had momentum, but Unioto was far from finished.
Isaac Coy connected on a jumper, and Welch scored inside before connecting on a pair of free throw attempts to bring the score to 46-44.
The Tigers missed a pair of free throws, and mistakenly fouled Unioto with 5.4 seconds left. That’s when Coy calmly stepped to the line and coldly buried both shots to send the game into overtime.
In the first extra time frame, Fitch hit a jumper, followed by two free throws each from Welch and Coy to give Unioto a 52-48 advantage.
Later, with the score at 55-52, Circleville’s game-tying attempt hit the back iron, only for the long rebound to be secured by Nungester, who turned into a hero and buried the triple with 4.6 seconds left.
It was Nungester’s show for the final four minutes as he relentlessly attacked the basket, got to the free throw line and routinely knocked down freebies to send the Tiger faithful home happy.
“We’ve made a lot of strides. Last summer was great, but we were too up and down throughout the season. This summer, we were all connected as one group,” Nungester said. “Winning helps for sure, but through all of the adversity we’ve faced, we’ve stayed really close and played with that next man up mindset. Ed Kirk came off the bench and played so huge for us. He’s a freak athlete and secured a lot of extra possessions we needed tonight.”
Following Nungester’s final stat line, Jenkins finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Fowler added 10 points and five boards.
For Unioto, Coy and Fitch each finished with 21 points while Welch added 11 points to the mix.
Circleville returns to action on Tuesday at home against Fairfield Union with a chance to win the outright MSL-Buckeye championship.
Meanwhile, Unioto rebounds that same evening, hosting Washington.
“This game, I think, proved to a lot of people that we were meant to be here,” Jenkins said. “It was great to get a big road win, and Tuesday is going to be another huge game for us. Hopefully, we can bring home something to Circleville that hasn’t been done in 40 years.”
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