Morris boys basketball succumbs to Plano in overtime loss

PLANO – Morris and Plano were tied at 58 with 9.1 seconds left in the first overtime of the 53rd annual Plano Christmas Classic consolation championship game on Wednesday.

The Reapers inbounded the ball to their leading scorer, Marcus Ramirez, who dribbled up court in nine seconds and released a floater in the lane that fell through the basket at the buzzer, resulting in heartbreak for Morris.

Final score: Plano 60, Morris 58 in overtime.

To make matters worse for Morris (6-7), with 3:40 remaining in regulation, it had a what it thought was an insurmountable 53-43 lead. But several turnovers in the fourth quarter allowed the Reapers to force overtime.

Ramirez (15 points) gave Plano its first lead of the day at 55-53, with 52 seconds left in regulation.

Morris’ 6-foot-4 sophomore Tyler Spiezio’s old-fashioned 3-point play regained the lead for his team at 56-55 with 28 second left.

“My teammates allowed me to have the good game that I had,” said Spiezio, who had 10 points and five rebounds. “We just didn’t execute offensively in the fourth quarter. We are looking to improve in the second half of the season, one game at a time.”

With 9.1 second left, Jordan Miracle (16 points, three steals), came up with a huge steal and gave the ball to Matt Shaw, who was immediately fouled by the Reapers (7-6).

The foul was only Plano’s third of the half, resulting in three consecutive Morris inbound plays and Plano fouls, bringing the clock down to 3.2 seconds.

Plano’s Dahveed McKinney (8 points, four steals) stole the fourth inbounds pass and was fouled while shooting, with 1.2 seconds left in regulation. McKinney missed the first shot and made the second, sending the game into overtime – a tie at 56.

“This one really hurts,” Morris coach Joe Blumberg said. “We just gave the game away. 2-2 in this tournament is not what we wanted to do. We wanted to go 3-1 and improve to 7-6, for the first half of our season. The one major positive for us in this tournament, was the continual improvement of our sophomores, Spiezio and Aurelius Lennon-Rios.”

As it did in Tuesday’s night late win over Fenton, Morris hit the ground running with a 18-7 first-quarter lead as  Shaw buried three of his six 3-point bombs.

He knocked down his fourth 3-pointer in the second quarter to help his team to its 27-18 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Shaw earned his fifth 3-pointer, and when Lennon-Rios (8 points,13 rebounds, four blocks) put back a Miracle miss, Morris had its largest lead of the game at 37-23, with 5:15 left.

“We really played well, as a team for the first three and a half quarters,” Lennon-Rios said. “I had a good game today, as did our whole team. I couldn’t have done what I did with out my teammates.”