WEST FRANKFORT — Despite a poor night shooting free throws, Nashville made enough of them in overtime to outlast Mount Carmel, 72-66, in the semifinals of the West Frankfort Class 2A sectional Tuesday in boys basketball.
After Levi Laws made a basket to seemingly give Mount Carmel a 68-67 lead with 50 seconds left in overtime, the bucket was waved off and an offensive foul was called.
Chance Reuter made four straight free throws to ice the victory for the Hornets.
"It wasn't the prettiest win we've had all year, but we'll certainly take it at this point," said Nashville coach Brad Weathers. "We were trying to key on Laws and (Reece) Metcalf, and you sure can't tell in the scorebook They're really prolific scorers and they proved it."
Nashville is known for playing tremendous defense, but the Hornets struggled to contain both players. The duo combined for 46 points.
The Hornets (24-7) never trailed in overtime, but the Golden Aces (14-15) certainly had their chances to win.
"That's our most consistent game we've played all year," said Mount Carmel coach Tyler Buss. "That feeling of just being happy to be here never set in. We were excited to try and keep this thing going. WE had to make sure and protect the inside, but I don't know how good of a job we did with as many points as (Royce) Newman had."
The Hornets' freshman standout scored a team-high 17 points and made two huge free throws to put Nashville up by one late in regulation.
Nashville only made 21 of 38 attempts from the charity stripe. The Golden Aces struggled as well, going 9-for-21.
Scott Brown was in foul trouble for Nashville most of the game, but the other Hornets stepped up.
"I was proud of our effort, and I thought we played through that adversity," Weathers said. "Actually I thought (Mount Carmel) had a little momentum going into overtime. We're typically a good free throw shooting team, and I did have confidence there at the end that we'd knock some down."
Daniel Thorson added 14 points for Nashville, and Reuter contributed 13. Keegan Anderson tallied 11 as well.
Nashville moves on to Friday's sectional final against the winner of today's game between Harrisburg and Chester.
