O'FALLON, Mo. • Fort Zumwalt South's George Cater was in his element.
“The atmosphere out there was incredible,'' he said, referring to the Fort Zumwalt South-Fort Zumwalt North boys basketball game played Tuesday at North. “You get the big home crowd, filling up more than half the bleachers, and the place goes crazy with every basket, every call. As a player, that's what you live for. I wish every game could be like that.''
Cater, a Bulldogs senior, shook off three quarters of so-so basketball to basically will South to a 60-57 overtime victory.
The Bulldogs trailed by eight early in the final quarter, but rallied to force the extra period as Cater connected on a pair of late 3-pointers. Cater followed up by scoring South's first five points of the extra period.
“We didn't do much at all offensively in the second or third quarter,'' Cater explained. “We didn't want to let this one get away for us, so I tried to step it up a little. I did the best I could and luckily it worked out for us.''
With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 11-10 overall and 4-0 in the Gateway Athletic Conference North. South has won its last four games and six of its last seven. The loss dropped North to 9-10 and 0-2.
“The crowd was great and they got a chance to see an exciting basketball game,'' South coach Bill Friedel said. “It's a shame every game can't have this level of enthusiasm.''
South controlled the game early, going up 17-7 when Cater scored off an inbounds pass from Matt Galvin.
North picked up some momentum when Herod Montgomery connected on a half-court heave at the buzzer. Panthers freshman Zach Glotta then hit a 3-pointer to start the second quarter, getting North right back into the game.
“We had a 3 rattle out just before Herod's shot, too,'' Friedel pointed out. “That was a huge swing right there.''
South pushed its lead to 22-13 early in the second quarter before running into foul trouble. North capitalized, connecting on 10 of 12 free throws while finishing the first half on a 14-4 run and taking a 27-26 lead to halftime.
“We were getting good shots in the second, but they weren't falling,'' Friedel said. “North really pushed the ball up the floor on us and because we weren't getting back, they were able to get us into a little bit of foul trouble.''
The Panthers threatened to pull away in the third quarter, getting back-to-back 3's and a leaner from Glotta to go up 37-29. South rallied to cut the lead to 37-35 on a rebound basket from Galvin with 10 seconds left in the third quarter, but Glotta got a nice home-court roll on a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving North a 40-35 lead with a quarter to play.
Another Panther 3, this one from sophomore Chaz Glotta, pushed the North lead to 43-35 with 6:47 to play.
“We didn't do much offensively in the third quarter, but our defense was good enough to keep us in the game,'' Friedel said.
Cater, who had eight points in the fourth quarter, tied the score at 51 with a 3-pointer with 1:24 to play. Zach Glotta put the home team on top 53-51 with a steal and layup with 30.7 seconds to play, but South answered as Stephen Bilkey converted a slick interior pass from Galvin with 17 seconds left.
With time running down, North's Jacob Boyd went strong to the basket. His shot, and several tip attempts, simply would not fall.
In overtime, Cater hit a 3-pointer and then scored on a drive to put the Bulldogs on top to stay at 58-57 with 2:28 to play. In the game's waning moments, South's Marcus Lemasters took a charge and the Bulldogs hit two big free throws to make it 60-57.
But North was not finished. In a furious attempt to force another overtime period, the Panthers had 3-point attempts from Chaz Glotta, Zach Glotta and Drew Lowrey bang off the rim.
“It was crazy,'' said Cater, who hit on four of eight 3-pointers and led the Bulldogs with 18 points. Galvin, who was three-for-three from long range, finished with 13 points, seven assists and four steals.
“He's looking for his shot a little more now and he knocked down some big shots,'' Friedel said. “And he didn't leave the floor.''
North, which outscored South 17-6 from the free-throw line, was paced by the Glotta brothers. Freshman Zach made four 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 24 points, while sophomore Chaz scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.
