YARMOUTH — Two old rivals, both ranked first in their respective Heal point standings, put on such a great show Tuesday it needed three encores.

Greely High’s Class A boys’ basketball team escaped Class B Yarmouth with its unbeaten record intact, finally pulling away in the third overtime to win, 82-74.

Yarmouth’s Alek Medenica hit tying 3-pointers at the end of regulation and the second overtime and Matt McDevitt did the same for Greely at the end of the first overtime.

After Medenica sent the game to the third overtime with a shot from at least 27 feet over the outstretched arm of McDevitt, the two 6-foot-7 seniors – club teammates in the summer – looked at each other, smiled and hugged as if to say, “More basketball? Bring it on.”

“He just turned around and said, ‘I love you man. Mad respect. I don’t know how you hit that one,'” Medenica said. “It just shows that we have a huge rivalry but we can still be friendly toward each other.”

“I have a lot of respect for him and that game just gave me more respect for him,” McDevitt said. “I just said, ‘if you can do it, I guess I can do it right back.'”

In the third overtime McDevitt hit a 10-footer to get the Rangers in front to stay. He and sophomore reserve Mike Coppersmith (11 points) combined to hit 10 straight free throws, six by Coppersmith.

Greely is 9-0. Yarmouth is 7-2, with both losses to the Rangers.

“You had a great high school boys’ basketball game here tonight and I think everybody from the coaches to the players to the spectators enjoyed this one. It was definitely an exciting game for everyone to be a part of,” said Yarmouth Coach Adam Smith.

“It was just kind of reset, reset, reset and get ready for another four minutes and I thought our kids did well,” said Greely Coach Travis Seaver.

McDevitt finished with 33 points, making seven 3-pointers. Jordan Bagshaw added 18 and the Rangers – down 20-3 to start the game – also had key second-half contributions from Coppersmith and Zack Brown (nine points).

Medenica scored 26 points with six 3s, and Nolan Hagerty had nine blocked shots for the Clippers and scored eight of his 15 points in the overtimes.

Greely had an advantage at the free-throw line, making 30-of-36 attempts. Yarmouth was 7 of 16, including three costly misses in the first overtime.

“Definitely they’re a tough team and knocked down a bunch of free throws,” said Smith. ”

Both teams showed resiliency.

The Clippers played a tremendous first quarter, making five 3-pointers, blocking four shots and getting out on the break without making a single turnover and Greely made one of its first 12 shots. Yarmouth roared to a 20-3 lead with Gibson Harnett and Medenica making two 3s.

“We got behind 17 because Yarmouth played great,” Seaver said.

In the middle quarters, Greely had a strong edge. With a 13-3 halftime closing run – capped by a McDevitt 3-pointer – the Rangers trailed 33-28 at the half.

Greely took advantage of Medenica being on the bench with three fouls in the third quarter to go on an 18-4 run, taking a 50-44 lead after three quarters.

Related Stories