Southside- It was a clash of two of the best teams in the area Friday night, as Impact (10-3) visited Providence (12-5). Impact would take a three point lead with just seconds remaining in the game, when Providence guard Isaiah Green hit a game tying three pointer to send the contest into overtime.
In overtime, big J. Lee Repass would score points of his 17 point total to lead Providence past Impact 47-44 in the overtime affair. With the win, Providence gained a much needed win against a top ranked opponent to increase their chances of a post season birth as the 16th ranked team in class 3A. The win will certainly move them up, seeing that they defeated the #1 ranked team in class 2A in Impact.
The game got off to a slow start as both teams missed shots and attempted to find their rhythm. Seth Allen and Repass would help the Stallions as they took an early 4-point lead in the first. The lead would increase as Josh Himel scored 7 points for Providence including two big 3 pointers in the 2nd, until R.J Bryant and Timothy Grant both scored 5 points to pull Impact to within 1- point at the half 18-17.
In the second half, Himel would continue his onslaught, hitting two more three pointers to give Providence the slight edge. He finished with 13 points including four 3-pointers to keep the Stallions ahead.
However, Impact would make a furious comeback by turning up the defense. They contested passes and forced turnovers with their length. Antonio Williams would get steals and buckets scoring 4-points in the fourth. Late in the fourth, Calvin Johnson (7 points) would get a steal and a break a way dunk to increase Impact’s lead to three points 37-34.
Tim Grant would miss the 1 and 1 free throw and Providence’s Isaiah Green would advance the ball up court trailing by three. He would execute a killer step-back three-pointer with four seconds on the clock knocking it down and send the game to overtime.
In overtime, Green would be clutch again as he knocked down 5 of 6 free throws in the extra period. Repass again would assert himself down low scoring four points and blocking shots. Jordin Jackson’s 4 points in the period was not enough as Impact missed a three pointer late in the game to fall to Providence 47-44.
With the win, Providence improves to 12-5 and will take on Bishop Snyder (6-6) today. Impact falls to 10-3 and will take on Trinity Christian (0-12). Williams lead Impact with 11 points, Bryant finished with 10 points. Repass led all scorers with 17 points, Himel 13 points and Green with 10 in the contest.
Check out the official boys basketball playoff rankings and the Duval Sports Power Rankings
