At this point in the season, Atholton is no stranger to one-possession games in the final minute of regulation.
So, when the Raiders found themselves with the ball and down three points with five seconds left in the fourth quarter against Reservoir Friday, there was no sense of panic.
Instead, Brandon Willis dribbled down the court, pulled up over two defenders and knocked down a game-tying three to force overtime. Then, riding that momentum, Atholton went on to pull away in the extra period for a 62-56 victory on the road.
"We've been playing in a lot of these games. Some games we've pulled out, some we haven't, but I think we've learned from some of our mistakes and gained a lot of valuable experience that we're able to draw upon," said Atholton coach Jared Albert, whose team has now had three of its last four games decided in similar nail-biting fashion.
"We're no stranger to adversity at this point, whether it's playing all our games on the road the last month or having to battle back from being down like we were tonight. This is a tough group of kids."
Willis, who had also hit the game-tying basket late in regulation in an eventual overtime win over Howard last week, said he wanted the ball.
"(I know) the ball's going to be in my hands at the end of the game, I just had to knock down the big shot," Willis said. "As soon as I let the ball go, the rim became wide open and it went in."
Atholton (10-7, 12-8), which was led by 19 points apiece from Willis and Cole Mason, had trailed for almost the entire game against the Gators.
In fact, following a 9-2 run by Reservoir (11-6, 12-8) late in the second quarter, the Raiders never saw the lead again until overtime.
The Gators' lead scoring duo of Seth Henry (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Andrew Phillips (17 points) managed to keep Atholton at arms length for most of the second half behind some terrific inside-outside play. Throw in a couple timely threes by Jon Mierzwa (12 points) and Reservoir had leads as large as 10 points on two different occasions.
"We played against an incredible basketball team tonight. Reservoir is extremely talented and they seemed like they had an answer for everything," Albert said. "It was a great atmosphere, huge crowd, and they had us on the ropes a couple times."
But, in the face of adversity, Atholton continually showcased composure. Mason delivered a couple big lay-ups in the fourth quarter to close the gap. Then the team's pressure defense forced a few turnovers to tighten things even further.
Ultimately, though, it came down to Willis having to hit a big shot. Following two made foul shots by Henry, Reservoir led 52-49 with five seconds left.
That's when Willis took the ball the length of the floor and buried his second three of the night.
Atholton never slowed down after that. Casey Kelly and Chris Carter (13 points) each made lay-ups to open up overtime and the Raiders never trailed at any point in the extra period.
After losing to Reservoir by 20 points earlier this winter, Mason said this was an especially important game for Atholton to show how far it's come.
"It's big because we wanted to make a statement that we're better than that team we were early in the season when we took a pretty bad beating," Mason said. "We wanted to show the county that we weren't that team."
Atholton 62, Reservoir 56 OT
A (10-7, 12-8): Willis 19, Mason 19, Carter 13, Kelly 6, Waterworth 4, Rodgers 1.
Re (11-6, 12-8): Henry 18, Phillips 17, Mierzwa 12, Obering 5, Maloney 4.
Half: 23-23; Regulation: 52-52.