WILLIAMSPORT – Mother Nature just worked its way inside the Williamsport Elementary Gym Friday night.
The boys basketball game between Southmont and Seeger was suspended with 1:33 left in the third quarter and the Patriots leading 34-28.
The game had stopped for a free throw and one of the officials had asked for a towel to mop up a little water on the floor in front of the Patriots cheering section.
That was followed by the discovery of water on the floor in front of the South bench, and then on the other end of the floor. All the leaks were underneath large vents in the roof.
When it became evident that water was coming in, the game officials, along with Seeger officials and the coaches, fairly quickly decided to suspend the game.
A working theory was that the high winds were blowing some leftover rain under the vents, but with no firm knowledge, or plan of action, the safety of the players became the only issue and action ceased.
The game will be completed at a later date,
The Patriots had used a 12-6 run in the third quarter to break the 22-22 halftime tie.
They had forced six turnovers in the quarter and used those steals to score eight of their dozen points.
South was the early leader, jumping out to an 8-2 advantage, and had another 6-0 run early in the second quarter to build the six-point lead back up.
The Patriots chipped away, however, and hit the only three-pointer of the game to take their first lead at 22-20. The Mounties got the last basket of the half to knot things up.
“They (Seeger) got into our passing lanes in the third,” South coach Michael Byrum said, “but we got more stagnant. We’ve been fighting a lot of illness and injuries recently, and it’s kind of carried over. We just have to work through it. We played very poorly tonight and missed some scoring opportunities. We did a good job looking for cutters but it’s 49 days to sectional championship night and we have to start getting ready for that. While Byrum said that he had been through a suspended game once before, Seeger coach John Collins said it was a first for him.
“We were more patient on offense and had better ball movement,” he said of the third-quarter improvement. “We were also more locked in defensively and got some steals. We have a couple starters out also, so we got some good minutes from new guys, like Jack Cole.”
The freshman had seven points in the second quarter.
Hunter Thomas led the Seeger scoring with 12 points, while South was led by Vince Reimondo and Hayden Hess with eight each. The Mounties had 11 field goals in the paint, and were 11-of-28 from the field. Seeger was 8-of-22 from the field.
There was no indication from either school on when the last quarter-plus might be played.
