After the Greyhounds rallied in the closing minutes to erase a St. Dom’s lead, Lisbon maintained the momentum with a strong overtime that produced a 49-43 win over the Saints.

“I told the kids that this was the biggest game of the season,” Lisbon coach Jake Gentle said. “First, it was the first game of the season. Secondly, they’re comparable with us when you look at last year’s records. They made the playoffs and we just missed out on the playoffs. This year we only play them once. So we needed to get the first win over them because we won’t have a second shot at them. Hopefully, they’ll win 17 games for us and that would be great.”

Lisbon used a 7-2 run to finish regulation. That erased a five-point lead by the Saints. Then the Greyhounds scored six straight to open the overtime and used an 8-2 run to build a lead St. Dom’s couldn’t match.

“We broke down in overtime, no doubt about that,” said St. Dom’s coach Todd Flaherty. “We were missing Eric Ulin. He was really playing well for us.”

The Saints were plagued by foul trouble for much of the game. Matt Dyer had three fouls by halftime and a fourth early in the third quarter. Dyer and Cameron Raymond each finished with four while Ulin and Madison Jalbert each fouled out.

“I think we were getting worn down at the end,” said Flaherty. “I thought in overtime we were a little tired. We didn’t have the minutes distributed out the way we would like because of the foul trouble.”

Kendal Roy led the Greyhounds with 13 points, six came from the free throw line and five of those were in overtime. Tucker Brannon added 11, four from the line in overtime, while Jake Johnston and Kyle Bourget each added 10.

“They did a nice job from the line and we didn’t,” said Flaherty, whose team shot just 3-for-12 from the line.

The Saints got 10 each from Ulin and Jalbert.

Though Lisbon built the early lead with some fine outside shooting,  the Saints took the lead late in the first half and had the advantage up to 33-28 midway through the fourth.

St. Dom’s had the size advantage in the post and did a nice job on the press. That led to Lisbon struggling to get the offense going after its quick start. In the final quarter, the Greyhounds battled hard on the boards and had some success despite the Saints advantage.

“Normally our outside shots open up our inside game,” said Gentle, whose team managed just six points in each of the second and third quarters. “We weren’t really knocking it down. We started running a flex cut and trying to get some easy buckets inside.”

Johnston hit a free throw and scored in the post to trim the lead with 5:18 left. A 3 by Brannon got the Greyhounds within one with four minutes remaining. Then Johnston scored in the post and sank a free throw to put Lisbon up 37-35 with 1:46 left.

“Johnston played much better in the second half,” said Gentle. “In the first half, he wasn’t playing as good as he normally is. He played good the second half. He got some big offensive rebounds and putbacks. That was really big for us. We need Jake (Johnston) and Jake (Bremmer), our two big guys, to play really well defensively and offensively.”

The Saints got a rebound basket by Mike Bryant with 1:21 left. A Johnston free throw put the Greyhounds ahead with 57 seconds remaining, but the Saints tied it with 14 seconds remaining on a Dyer free throw. It was St. Dom’s first made free throw of the game.

The Saints had just one field goal in the final four minutes of regulation and didn’t score until 1:27 remained in overtime.

“We didn’t look like ourselves down the stretch offensively,” said Flaherty. “Early, I thought we moved the ball well and got good shots that just weren’t going in. Then at the end, we weren’t able to get good shots.”

In overtime, Johnston converted a nice pass from Johnny Yim. Then Lisbon won it from the free throw line. Roy hit four straight free throws to build the lead. Meanwhile, the Saints missed its first three shots and went 1-for-7 from the floor in overtime. St. Dom’s also had five turnovers in overtime. St. Dom’s got a 3 from Jalbert to make it 46-43 with 48 seconds left, but Roy and Brannon finished it off from the line.

“We ended up getting a basket and (Ulin) fouled out and that changed the complexity of the game,” said Gentle.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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