GROVE CITY - Payton Kinzler, right arm extended in the air, held his follow-through and backpedaled down to the opposite end of the court, his mouth agape and eyes locked on his euphoric teammates erupting on the ACGC bench.
Kinzler had just hit a 3-pointer on the second consecutive possession-his fourth triple in a span of four minutes-to swing the flow of Friday night's 84-78 win over BOLD at home in the Falcons' favor.
For the ACGC senior guard, knocking down jumpers from all over the gym is tied for the best feeling in basketball - only matched by coming away with a win. Kinzler and his Falcons teammates experienced both, coming back from a 16-point second-half deficit against the Warriors.
"That's what I live for, knocking down those open 3s," Kinzler said. "That's the best feeling in the world, right there with winning. It was a great win, great game."
Kinzler finished with five 3-pointers and 24 points and center Gabe Eisenbacher scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Falcons. Guard Jaren Kaddatz scored 18 points, while Adam Johnson scored seven points and had 10 rebounds.
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If Dr. Jekyll was in charge of ACGC's 51-point, 1.5 points-per-possession second half, then certainly Mr. Hyde was pulling the strings for the first 18 minutes. Behind 16 forced turnovers, BOLD closed the half on a 18-9 run and entered the break with a 42-33 lead.
"We were forcing our own turnovers," Falcons head coach Terry Miller said. "We dribbled off our leg, we didn't have much movement and we weren't getting stops on defense. They were making some shots and we never got the stops to get excited about. The defense can spur on the offense."
The Warriors opened the second half on a 7-0 run, led by Gavin Vosika's five points, to open up the largest lead of the game at 49-33. ACGC then flipped the switch and got the crowd into the game by rattling off basket after basket.
Kaddatz hit a 3-pointer to cap a 16-0 run in a matter of minutes to tie the game at 49. The lead changed back-and-forth until, trailing 64-63 at the time, the Falcons found Kinzler in the corner for three.
Swish.
On the next possession, the sharpshooter was in the same spot.
Swish. 69-65, Falcons.
"They made shots to get up big, and then we came right back and made shots to make it a game," Miller said. "Kinzler did well and came up big, while Kaddatz hit a couple of big threes."
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From there, ACGC kept the foot on the gas pedal, jumping out to a 76-68 lead before BOLD drew within four points with two minutes remaining. Fittingly, Kinzler iced the game with a pair of free throws to go up 83-78 with 13 seconds remaining.
"It came down to execution for us," Kinzler said. "Coach Miller got into us at halftime, said we had to take care of the ball. We came out and executed like we knew that we could."
Vosika scored 19 points to lead all Warriors scorers and Matt Mages chipped in 16 points. The Falcons shot 55.8 percent from the field, scoring 1.12 points per possession despite turning the ball over 19 times.
ACGC 84, BOLD 78
BOLD........................... 42 36 - 78
ACGC............................. 33 51 - 84
BOLD
Scoring: Gavin Vosika 19, Devin Gluesing 5, Thomas Meyers 6, Evan Peppel 2, Ryan Snow 14, Mason Mages 16, Jordan Sagedahl 11, Logan Dahlk 5 ... 3-point shots: Vosika 4, Snow 1, Mages 3, Sagedahl 2... Rebound leader: Snow 7 ... Assist leader: Vosika 4... Steal leader: Vosika 3, Sagedahl 3
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ACGC
Scoring: Erik Belgum 11, Payton Kinzler 24, Jaren Kaddatz 18, Adam Johnson 7, Gabe Eisenbacher 24 ... 3-point shots: Kinzler 5, Kaddatz 2 ... Rebound leader: Eisenbacher 11, Johnson 10 ... Assist leader: Ryan Amdahl 4, Kaddatz 4... Steal leader: Kaddatz 2
