Buzzer-Beater Gives Chelsea Third Straight D2 District Title

The Chelsea boys’ basketball team made it three straight D2 district titles with a buzzer-beating 46-44 win over Parma Western Friday night.

Junior Wyatt Matusik battled with two Panthers underneath and tipped a missed shot that went in at the final buzzer and sent the Bulldogs bench and student section rushing the floor for a district title winning celebration.

The game was a back-and-forth affair throughout with the Bulldogs taking a 9-7 lead after one.

Western battled back to take a 24-22 halftime lead, but the Bulldogs Drew Blanton got hot in the third and Cheslea outscored Western 13-8 to take a 35-32 lead into the final period.

The Bulldogs built a seven point lead early in the fourth and led the Panthers 41-37 with five-minutes left.

Chelsea went scoreless over the next four minutes and the Panthers went on a 7-0 run to take a 44-41 lead.

Blanton hit a triple with 40 seconds left to break the long scoreless drought and tied the game at 44 setting up the exciting finish.

Chelsea got a defensive stop and Blanton took the ball with 19 seconds left.

The Bulldogs ran the clock down to five seconds when Blanton attempted a fade-away jumper that bounced off the rim and Matusik beat two Western defenders to the rebound and tipped it in as the final buzzer sounded for the win.

Matusik finished with twelve points, but the final two were probably the biggest of his career.

Blanton had a huge night with 30 points to lead all scorers.

The win avenged an early season loss to Parma Western and improved the Bulldogs to 16-8 overall on the season.

Chelsea advances to the D2 regional semifinals in Charlotte to face Goodrich Tuesday night at 7:00 PM.

The Bulldogs reached the finals by knocking off 18-5 Brooklyn Columbia Central 48-37 earlier in the week.

Chelsea trailed 10-8 after one quarter but went on a 15-8 run in the second to take a 23-18 lead at the half.

Blanton and Buck Allen hit big triples I the third to push the Bulldogs lead to 35-25 heading to the fourth.

The Chelsea lead grew to 14 39-25 early in the fourth, but the Eagles went on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 42-35.

Columbia would get no closer as the Bulldogs sealed the win at the free throw line in the final minutes.

Allen finished with a team-high 22 points with Blanton right behind with 20.

Will McCalla added three points, Matusik two points, and Beckett Boos one.