Posted: 3/5/03

Overson's buzzer-beater give Rangers win

Berk Brown
Sports Editor

When three seconds left in the third overtime, everybody in the Forest Lake gym knew the Rangers, trailing by a point, were going to get Joey Ryan the ball on an in-bounds play.

Ultimately, the fact everybody knew thatís what the Rangers wanted to do worked in Forest Lakeís favor as Ryan never touched the ball for the final shot in Forest Lakeís 58-57 win over Hastings.

In fact, Lance Overson in-bounded the ball to Steve Korthals, who spun and shot from 12-feet away. When the shot bounced off the rim, Overson came crashing in from the outside and tipped the ball in as the buzzer sounded, giving Forest Lake the win and share of the Suburban East Conference title.

It took a string of miraculous events to get Forest Lake the win in its final home game of the season.

With Hastings leading 57-56 with 27 seconds left in the game, the Raidersí Scott Kelly missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

Ryan grabbed the rebounds and later missed a 3-pointer with :09 remaining. Kevin Keto, the Rangersí 5-foot-9 point guard, though, tracked down the rebound and called timeout with :04.
Following the timeout, Overson tried to inbuond the ball to Ryan, but Hastingsí Mick Nelson intercepted the pass and stepped out of bounds with :03 left.

That steal allowed everyone to see how the Rangers were going to try and run Ryan off a pair of screens to get open for the shot.

At which point Forest Lake coach Chuck Gunderson told Overson to watch for Korthals ñÝwho was setting a pick ñ if the Raiders collapsed of Ryan.

So, when nearly the entire Hastings defense collapsed on Ryan in anticipation of him receiving the pass, Overson lobbed the ball to Korthals.

Overson then had a clear lane to the basket as his defender had dropped down on Ryan. When Korthalís shot bounced off the rim, Overson came flying in and tipped it in as the buzzer sounded.

The tip-in resulted in the crowd rushing onto the court. It also allowed Forest Lake to share the Suburban East Conferenec title with Mounds View and Woodbury as all three teams finished the conference season at 10-4.

Gunderson said not only did the victory help the Rangers set a positive tone heading into the Section 6AAAA tournament, but it allowed a group seniors to have a memorable finish at home.
ìI told the parents afterwards that I just didnít think they wanted to leave the court,î Gunderson said.

Forest Lake had to battle back in the second half just to get to overtime ñÝlet alone three of them.

Trailing 33-24 entering the fourth quarter, Forest Lake got hot in the fourth quarter and a Lucas Anderson 3-pointer with 2:27 left in regulation gave Forest Lake a 37-35 lead.

Forest Lake maintained a lead of 39-37 until Hastingsí Thor Tripp hit a driving layup at the buzzer to force overtime.

In each of the first two overtimes, Forest Lake missed 3-pointers in the final seconds which could have won the game.

Ryan was the only Ranger in double figure in the game with 26 points. He also had nine rebounds. Anderson finished with nine points, two rebounds and three steals.

On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Forest Lake suffered a 58-32 loss at Woodbury. Ryan had 14 points and five rebounds for the Rangers while Keto had 10 points, Overson eight rebounds and Korthals seven points and six boards.

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