Mustangs rally late to edge past Panthers

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Preston Woodworth goes up for a shot ahead of Newfane defender Mac Capen during the Mustangs come-from-behind win over the visiting Panthers this evening.

Coming from WAY, WAY back, Medina rallied down the stretch to nip visiting Newfane 50-48 in a Niagara-Orleans League boys basketball game.

Trailing by as many as 17 midway though the second period and by 11 heading into the final quarter, the Mustangs came battling back in the final stanza to outscore the Panthers 19-6 and claim the narrow win.

Jerrell Nealy spearheaded the Mustangs big rally by scoring 14 points down the stretch. He opened his big quarter with a three and capped it off with another clutch three with 25 seconds remaining for what proved to be the winning tally and a 49-48 Medina lead.

Kolton Fletcher then came up with a huge steal to get the ball back for Medina with nine seconds remaining and Christian Moss capped off the win with a free throw with three seconds to go making the final 50-48.

Nealy finished with 18, all in the second half, to lead the Mustangs as Preston Woodworth added 12, Avion Johnson 9, Moss 5, Jayzon Wills 4 and Fletcher 2.

Mac Capen poured in s game high 32 to lead the way for Newfane.

Capen scored 11 in both the first and second quarters to help the Panthers build up as much as a 17 point, 28-11 lead midway through the second period.

Medina though got back into the game by closing the period with a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 9, 30-21, at the break. Woodworth and Johnson both scored 6 during that rally.

The Panthers increased their lead a bit to 11, 42-31, at the end of the third period. Capen scored 7 during that strecth which saw the Panthers go 8 of 12 from the free throw line.

That set the stage for the Mustangs big Nealy led fourth quarter 19-6 scoring surge to claim the win.

Medina improves to 4-2 in N-O action as Newfane slips to 3-3.

Wilson 65, Akron 58
Front-running Wilson bested visiting runner-up Akron 65-58 to open up a two game lead atop the N-O League standings.

Aidan Neumann scored 22, Ryan Hough 19 , Brock Lepsch 10 and Shamus George 9 to lead Wilson.

Ben Gerstung tallied 16, Derren Brooks 14 and Blake Gerstung and Brodie Hill 12 each to pace Akron.

N-O Standings: Wilson 6-0, Akron 4-2, Medina 4-2, Newfane 3-3, Albion 2-4, Barker 1-4, Roy-Hart 0-5.

Medina’s Jerrell Nealy goes high for a rebound between the Newfane duo of Mac Capen, left, and Isaiah Gerstung (3).