WRENTHAM, Mass. - Not all of his numbers are going to pop out on the stat sheet, but Oliver Ames' Nick Cidado stood out on the court in the fourth quarter.
The senior made a great hustle play just seconds after turning it over, running the length of the court to grab it back, grabbed four big defensive rebounds against King Philip's long bigs, made a huge block with just a minute remaining in a one possession game, and then made a great pass while being double teamed that turned a three point game into a five point game. Oh, and he drained two free throws with 10 seconds left to extend the lead to seven.
His fourth quarter performance was an example of how Oliver Ames played the final three quarters, turning a 15-point deficit at the end of the first quarter into a 60-56 win over King Philip.
"He had a really good complete game," said Oliver Ames head coach Don Byron. "He's not going to be an explosive 25-point scorer most likely, but he's the kind of kid that can put a double double up on you. He made a couple of big plays. He made the big find to [Chris] Duggan on that last basket before the foul shots. Overall the physical play he brought tonight was terrific. I thought he did a really good job."
Oliver Ames started the fourth quarter up 48-46 but used an 8-1 run and raced to a 56-47 lead with 3:46 left in the game. King Philip's Jimmy Layman then scored the game's next six points to bring the Warriors within three. The Tigers continued to turn the ball over but on the other end King Philip was unable to convert. After an OA turnover in their own back court, KP looked to have a perfect play set with James O'Brien coming off a screen, but Cidado fought through and was able to come up with a big block to keep the lead at three.
King Philip only had a couple of fouls in the second half and were forced to foul a couple of times to close in on the bonus. When Cidado got the ball in the corner, he was quickly double teamed but instead of taking a foul, he found a wide open Chris Duggan for a layup to make it 58-53. Cidado then sank two free throws to make it 60-53 before Ryan Layman made a late three for the final basket.
The Warriors started out on fire on offense, shooting 11/15 from the field with all five starters getting on the scorebook in the first quarter. King Philip led by as much as 16 after a Michael Pergola basket to make it 21-6, but the Tigers responded by outscoring the Warriors in each of the final three quarters.
"That's a good sign," Byron said of his team's ability to bounce back. "Maybe we found something tonight in regards to that. We got hit hard and we didn't do much. The crowd was involved and the whole thing. We just told them 'don't think you're going to get this back by halftime, it's going to take the whole 24 minutes remaining.' We set little goals like getting it within 10 and we did it."
Six different Tigers scored in the second quarter, as they opening the quarter on a 15-4 run, using their transition offense to get out ahead of the Warriors for a couple easy buckets. Oliver Ames outscored KP 21-9 in the second frame and trailed by just three, 32-29, heading into halftime.
The third quarter belonged to OA junior Ryan Carney, who scored half of his game-high 24 points in the frame. After KP extended the lead to five, Carney scored back to back to make it a one point game at 36-35 and then with 4:20 left, his basket gave the Tigers a 39-38 lead. The Warriors regained the lead nearly a minute later but Carney then responded with a three to make it 42-40 with 2:26 left in the third. Ryan Layman scored a quick four points for KP but back-to-back three pointers from Nick Koepple and Carney gave OA the lead for good.
"We kept good pressure defensive pressure all night with [Nick] Koepple and [Emanuel] Simeon at the guard spots, they did some real good stuff and did a great job making [Jimmy] Layman work getting the ball from one end to the other," Byron said of what helped the Tigers come back. "And [Layman's] a good player and believe me I know that, we just felt he was going to have to do some things he doesn't usually does playing the point which isn't what he usually does."
Layman, who was playing the point for the third straight game, played incredibly strong for the Warriors. He scored a team-high 20 points, grabbed six assists and picked up five steals and added five blocks.
"Without Jorge [Casado] playing, who's injured, it puts a lot of stress of Jimmy as our second best ball handler and he's really risen to the occasion in three games now," said KP head coach Tim Clifford. "It's a lot to ask of the shooting guard to now be the point guard and the shooting guard. He did a fabulous job tonight. Now he has to do everything you said he's doing [scoring, assists, steals] and taking the ball up the court."
Oliver Ames improves to 5-7 and will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Canton. King Philip drops their third straight and is now 5-7. They are also back in action on Tuesday when they host Mansfield.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.