Farmers advances in thriller

July 30--After building and losing a double-digit lead in the second half, No.2-seed Farmers Insurance earned a spot in the Grebb League championship game with Tuesday's 64-62 win over No. 3 Campy's Pizza.

Noah Brown scored 15 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, including the game-winning basket with just over three seconds remaining. He finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds.

Campy's Pizza coach Kenny Johnson emphatically called a timeout, but the official didn't acknowledge the call until there was less than a second remaining.

His team was able to throw up a prayer, but Noah Yartin's shot from beyond half-court hit the back of the rim and bounced out.

"It was a hell of a game," Farmers coach Dana Zajicek said. "Campy's fought hard and got back into it with their defense just like they have all year."

Farmers led by six, 32-26, at the half and extended the lead to 39-28 early in the second half, but Campy's was able to force a number of turnovers and take advantage of missed layups to get back into the game.

Trailing 45-38, Campy's went on a 12-0 run, taking the lead on a 3-pointer by Frazier sophomore Alvin "L.A." Ross with 7:00 remaining.

Ross scored a game-high 24 points before fouling out with 2:26 left in the game.

Campy's led by as many as eight points, 57-49, with less than four minutes to play, but Farmers was able to cut that lead to two, 59-57, at the 1:30 mark when Cameron Sarber hit a jumper from the foul line.

After Campy's got the ball in bounds, Jaden Altomore turned it over by throwing it right into the hands of a Farmers player.

Brown scored on a tip-in to tie the game at 59-59.

Campy's took the lead back when Shandon Marshall hit 1 of 2 free throws.

On the next Farmers possession, Monessen'sLavelle Rush took off towards the middle of the lane and appeared to travel, but the referee called a foul.

Rush calmly sank both free throws. Campy's Rece Henneman answered with a pair of free throws of his own to give his team the lead back at 62-61 with 21 seconds to go. Henneman finished with 14 points.

After a time out, Farmers got the ball into the hands of Brown. He cleared his teammates from the lane and took two defenders to the lane when he was fouled by Henneman with 11 seconds left. He hit 1 of 2 to tie the game at 62-62.

Another Campy's turnover off the inbounds pass gave the ball back to Farmers with eight seconds to play.

Anyone watching the game knew who was going to get the final touch for Farmers.

"We were screening away and were going to get the ball to Noah," Zajicek said. "We knew the double team was coming, so the plan was for him to catch and dish, but he saw the opening and took it to the basket."

The win put Farmers Insurance into the league's championship game for the second consecutive season. Last season, they were coached by Naz Victoria.

Standing in Farmers' way of their elusive title will be regular season champion Union Cleaners. The teams split their meetings this season, giving Union its only loss.

"We have to make layups," Zajicek said. "We had a lot of putbacks and easy shots that was missed.

"And hopefully, we can get the intensity on defense that we had in the final minutes of tonight's game for an entire game, that would be nice.

"Our plan, though, will be to get up and down the court and get into a high-scoring game. We'll see what we can do."

GAME NOTES: Campy's played without leading scorer Dom Sarra. ... Farmers' Andre Smith fouled out with 3:13 remaining in the game. ... Sarber finished with 15 points, 11 in the first half.

Jeremy Sellew is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at [email protected] or 724-684-2667.

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