Eli Gove caught the ball and never questioned what he was going to do next.
He stood on the wing and with a defender closing in on him, jumped up, snapped his wrist and watched the ball fly toward the hoop.
The senior forward drained the shot, the crowd jumped to its feet and all Merrimack Valley had to do was hold Lebanon for five more seconds before overtime ensued.
Five seconds was too much time, however, as the Raiders left with a 34-32 win over the Pride behind Jackson Stone’s buzzer-beating layup.
The tension in the gym began to surface at the start of the third quarter as the score started at 15 each and both teams missed softly contested shots. It wasn’t until MV senior Ben Rose hit a midrange jumper for two when things clicked offensively for both teams.
Rose, who had eight points for the Pride, was one of the offensive driving forces for his team even when the ball wasn’t in his hands. Rotating between the two and the four spots on the floor, he was quick to make cuts from the block to the elbow to shoot or drive to the hole.
Defensively, the Pride forced the Raiders to earn their points and were able to cut into the passing lanes on which Lebanon likes to utilize in order to get to the basket for an easy deuce.
Instead, the visiting team was forced to drive, then kick out the ball to an open shooter either in the corner or on the wing. It wasn’t until midway through the third quarter where those layups started to take place.
As the game progressed and the Raiders began to take charge, they held marginal leads over the Pride and forced them into attempting shots from far out. Which made it all the worthwhile when they began to fall.
Trevor Simonds hit a 3-pointer from the wing, Rose found another 3-pointer, Gove hit his game-tying shot, but time ran out. While it’s a disappointing loss, it sent a message out to the rest of Division II.
“When we have the intensity and we want it, we know we can compete with anyone,” Rose said.
“When we play like that, I don’t think we can lose to any team,” Gove said.
MV (0-3) is still in pursuit of its first win of the season and will get another crack at it when it hosts Coe-Brown (1-2) on Friday. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.