6'8 Sophomore Elijah Farr and 6'5 Sophomore Cobie Montgomery paced the Blue Knights with 15 points apiece. 6'4 Sophomore JJ Kalakon had 10 points, 6'1 Freshman Tahj Patterson had 8 points, and 6'3 Sophomore DJ Haynes had 7 points.
The Volunteers were led in scoring by Romon Douglas-Watkins with 14 points and Mario McKinney with 12 points. The Volunteers were held to 25% from the three-point line and 42.2% from the field while also committing 16 turnovers.
Olney Central saw themselves up by two points (32-30) at the half despite foul trouble from several key contributors. The second half became a game of runs between the Blue Knights and the Volunteers. JJ Kalakon would score on the first possession of the second half and the Volunteers would respond on a transition layup from Sophomore Mario McKinney.
The Blue Knights would then go on a 12-0 run. The run started with an Elijah Farr layup followed by a quick steal and three-pointer by Cobie Montgomery off of a pass from 6'3 Freshman Jordan Graham. After a missed shot from the Volunteers, 6'3 Sophomore CE Talton would catch a long outlet pass from Elijah Farr and score at the rim to make the score 41-32.
Another Blue Knights stop would convert to a coast to coast layup by Cobie Montgomery. Elijah Farr would hit a three-pointer on the next trip down to make the score 46-32. The lead would be the largest lead of the night for both teams.
The Volunteers would respond with a 9-1 run over the next few minutes to cut the lead to 47-43 before a technical foul by Sophomore Sydney Curry at the 13:19 mark.
At the ten minute mark the Volunteers would get their first lead of the second half at 51-50 on a driving layup from Romon Douglas-Watkins. A clutch three-pointer from DJ Haynes at the nine minute mark would put the Blue Knights up 54-51. After a pair of made free throws from Douglas-Watkins, Haynes would come through again for the Blue Knights on a step back jump shot with 8:10 remaining.
Douglas-Watkins would score again on a layup and the Blue Knights would respond on a pair of free throws from Cobie Montgomery.
The score became knotted at 60 before a 6-0 run by the Volunteers on three straight stops and scoring trips.
The Blue Knights would face an eight point deficit before a layup by Elijah Farr and a timeout. The drama was just beginning. With 36 seconds remaining, the Blue Knights trailed 73-66 after a Mario McKinney layup and Volunteers timeout.
Out of the timeout Elijah Farr hit a three-pointer to cut into the deficit and the Blue Knights would call a timeout. Romon Douglas-Watkins missed both free throws and fouled JJ Kalakon the trip down the floor. Kalakon would make both free throws to make it a two point game. Olney Central would press and 6'5 Sophomore Jordan Tchuente would intercept a long Volunteers pass and pitch ahead to Tahj Patterson for a go ahead three-pointer to cap off an 8-0 run with 10.8 seconds remaining. The Volunteers used their final timeout.
Out of the timeout Tahj Patterson would steal the ball from Mario McKinney and get fouled with 5.7 seconds remaining. Patterson would miss both free throws and the Volunteers would race down the floor and miss at the buzzer on a McKinney floater.
The final score was 74-73 in favor of the Blue Knights.
The win moved Olney Central to 8-2 and 5-1 in the GRAC. The win was also the second win against a top 5 nationally ranked opponent of the 2021 season (Olney beat #4 Vincennes on February 1st).
Head Coach Casey Wyllie on the game: "So incredibly proud of our players and staff! We battled for 40 minutes and never gave up! This is a huge victory for our program moving forward. We found a way to overcome a 7 point deficit with 35 seconds to go. This was a total team effort!"