MONROE - Freeport senior Giovanni Offard played the role of superhero in the Snack Bowl game against Monroe Saturday.
Offard drilled a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds to go in the fourth quarter to tie the game and send it to overtime. Monroe junior Ben Latimer fouled out at the start of overtime and the Pretzels came back to knock off the Cheesemakers 65-59 in a thriller.
"We just wanted to play sound straight up defense and not foul," Monroe senior Kevin Noriega said of Offard's 3-pointer before the buzzer at the end of regulation. "We have to give him (Offard) credit because he hit a crazy shot."
With the win, Freeport won the inaugural Snack Bowl trophy that goes to the team that wins the most games between, freshman, junior varsity and varsity games between boys and girls. The Pretzels went 4-2 Saturday to clinch the trophy. Freeport is 6-2 against the Monroe boys the last eight years.
"I thought that people got their money's worth and the Snack Bowl lived up to its reputation," Monroe coach Pat Murphy said. "You can't call it a rivalry when one team is always winning. You play to win. In overtime we didn't make many plays. To Freeport's credit, they kept attacking and we didn't offer much resistance."
Freeport's Isaiah Ramos scored a game-high 25 points and Offard added 20 points. Ramos made 7 of 9 free throws in the second half to seal the win.
Ramos scored down low with 1 minute, 54 seconds to go, giving the Pretzels a 58-54 lead in the overtime. The Cheesemakers (5-7) answered with senior Logan Weckerly draining a 3-pointer to slice the lead to one point with 1:09 left. Monroe sophomore Alex Tordoff missed a layup with 18.6 seconds to go and the Cheesemakers down by two points. Freeport's Bailey Frank made two free throws and Caleb Sellers came up with a steal and made two free throws with 2 seconds left to ice the win.
"I think we showed we are a pretty tough team," Noriega said. "We played tough at some points of the game. We have to do it the whole time and not in spurts. They came out in the overtime and outhustled us and we can't let that happen again."
The Cheesemakers led by as many as three points in the fourth quarter and made 8 of 8 free throws the final 1:30, but couldn't hang on to the win.
"We definitely buckled under the pressure," said senior Desmond Ford, who scored a team-high 13 points. "We have to learn to handle the pressure better. That 3 was big. You just have to live with that."
The Cheesemakers had four players reach double figures. In addition to Ford, Noriega, Latimer and Tordoff each scored 11 points.
Murphy wants to see the Cheesemakers get better at limiting drives to the basket.
"I didn't expect Ramos to be that aggressive," Murphy said. "We take a lot of pride in stopping penetration and we didn't offer much resistance."
Trying to simulate the halfcourt pressure by the Pretzels was also tough for the Cheesemakers.
"Their quickness gave us some problems," Murphy said. "They did a good job of trapping us and covering up."
Offard drilled a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds to go in the fourth quarter to tie the game and send it to overtime. Monroe junior Ben Latimer fouled out at the start of overtime and the Pretzels came back to knock off the Cheesemakers 65-59 in a thriller.
"We just wanted to play sound straight up defense and not foul," Monroe senior Kevin Noriega said of Offard's 3-pointer before the buzzer at the end of regulation. "We have to give him (Offard) credit because he hit a crazy shot."
With the win, Freeport won the inaugural Snack Bowl trophy that goes to the team that wins the most games between, freshman, junior varsity and varsity games between boys and girls. The Pretzels went 4-2 Saturday to clinch the trophy. Freeport is 6-2 against the Monroe boys the last eight years.
"I thought that people got their money's worth and the Snack Bowl lived up to its reputation," Monroe coach Pat Murphy said. "You can't call it a rivalry when one team is always winning. You play to win. In overtime we didn't make many plays. To Freeport's credit, they kept attacking and we didn't offer much resistance."
Freeport's Isaiah Ramos scored a game-high 25 points and Offard added 20 points. Ramos made 7 of 9 free throws in the second half to seal the win.
Ramos scored down low with 1 minute, 54 seconds to go, giving the Pretzels a 58-54 lead in the overtime. The Cheesemakers (5-7) answered with senior Logan Weckerly draining a 3-pointer to slice the lead to one point with 1:09 left. Monroe sophomore Alex Tordoff missed a layup with 18.6 seconds to go and the Cheesemakers down by two points. Freeport's Bailey Frank made two free throws and Caleb Sellers came up with a steal and made two free throws with 2 seconds left to ice the win.
"I think we showed we are a pretty tough team," Noriega said. "We played tough at some points of the game. We have to do it the whole time and not in spurts. They came out in the overtime and outhustled us and we can't let that happen again."
The Cheesemakers led by as many as three points in the fourth quarter and made 8 of 8 free throws the final 1:30, but couldn't hang on to the win.
"We definitely buckled under the pressure," said senior Desmond Ford, who scored a team-high 13 points. "We have to learn to handle the pressure better. That 3 was big. You just have to live with that."
The Cheesemakers had four players reach double figures. In addition to Ford, Noriega, Latimer and Tordoff each scored 11 points.
Murphy wants to see the Cheesemakers get better at limiting drives to the basket.
"I didn't expect Ramos to be that aggressive," Murphy said. "We take a lot of pride in stopping penetration and we didn't offer much resistance."
Trying to simulate the halfcourt pressure by the Pretzels was also tough for the Cheesemakers.
"Their quickness gave us some problems," Murphy said. "They did a good job of trapping us and covering up."
