This one stung a bit.

After two full halves of basketball, overtime was needed to determine a winner between Pierce College and the Grays Harbor Chokers men’s basketball team on Wednesday.

Unfortunately for the Chokers, it was the Raiders that made the plays to pick up an 80-75 win in Aberdeen.

The Chokers (6-12 overall, 2-2 NWAC West) trailed 18-13 in the first half when a highlight-reel alley-oop dunk by David Featherston Jr. off a lob pass from Justin Loveless woke up the crowd and Chokers shooters.

Grays Harbor took a 22-21 lead on back-t0-back 3-pointers from Loveless and Willapa Valley product Logan Walker at 7:26 of the first half and the Chokers would extend their lead to 28-21 on a Walker layup three minutes later.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Grays Harbor Logan Walker (13) scores on a jump shot in the first half of the Chokers 80-75 loss to Pierce College on Wednesday in Aberdeen.

Pierce (4-12, 2-2) responded at the end of the first half as shooting guard Donnelle Irvin got hot. Irvin hit a jump shot and two 3-pointers over the final 36 seconds of the half to give Pierce a 31-30 lead at the break.

The Raiders extended their lead early in the second half, opening with a 5-0 run to go up 36-30 and pushing the lead out to 48-37 — the largest lead of the game for either team — on a three from Demarcus Davis with just under 14 minutes left to play.

But Grays Harbor responded immediately with a 3-pointer from Dallin Spencer a few moments later that sparked another Chokers run.

A Diego Gutierrez three got the Chokers to within a bucket at 50-47 with just over 11 minutes to go and Featherston followed with a baseline drive and thunderous dunk that caused an eruption from the Chokers faithful and pulled GHC to within a point at 50-49.

As the defensive pressure increased for both teams over the next several minutes, GHC regained the lead when Spencer grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for a 51-50 lead with 7:30 left.

Grays Harbor would go up by four on a Tristan Schoepf three, but Pierce battled back to take a 61-59 lead when Irvin scored and was fouled with three minutes left in the game.

Down 65-61 with just over a minute to go, Schoepf buried a 3-pointer from the corner that once again had Chokers fans leaping out of their seats, bringing GHC to within a point.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Grays Harbor’s Tristan Schoepf (44) buries a 3-pointer during the second half of the Chokers 80-75 loss to Pierce College on Wednesday at Grays Harbor College.

With 55 seconds remaining, Schoepf scored on a layup to give GHC a 66-65 lead, but Davis converted 1-of-2 free throws on Pierce’s subsequent possession to tie the game at 66-66.

After Grays Harbor point guard Dewaine Bell grabbed a rebound off a missed Raiders jump shot, a Featherston shot from in the paint rolled off the edge of the rim as time expired, sending the game into overtime.

A Bell layup followed by a Featherston free throw had GHC up 69-66 early in the extra period, but Pierce went on a 12-0 run as a smothering Raiders defense created turnovers and made it difficult for the Chokers to get their shots to fall.

Pierce went 4-for-4 from the foul line over the final 48 seconds of play to secure the victory and hand the Chokers a gut-wrenching loss.

“I was super proud of the guys that I used in the second half. They worked their butts off,” said Chokers head coach Matt Vargas, whose team has been dealing with some nagging injuries. “We are pretty banged up and thin, yet we found a way to be in it at the end and just ran out of gas.”

Schoepf, who has been battling back spasms, scored 14 points while Walker scored seven points playing on an injured knee.

“(Walker) tried to play through it, but he is going to be shut down for awhile,” Vargas said.

Spencer scored 11 points having just returned from hernia surgery.

One player for the Chokers that wasn’t playing with a disclosed nagging injury on Wednesday was Featherston. The Chokers forward dominated the paint, scoring a team high 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds — eight on the offensive end — to lead Grays Harbor.

“David Featherston was an absolute monster tonight,” Vargas said, adding that the Chokers are starting to get healthier. “Every day that passes, we’re healing and getting better.”

The Chokers play at Tacoma at 4 p.m. on Saturday before returning home for a game against Green River at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Pierce 31 35 14 — 80

Grays Harbor 30 36 9 — 75

Scoring

Pierce (80) — Irvin 33, Ajayi 19, Davis 13, Simon 7, Williams 6, Cady 2

Grays Harbor (75) — Featherston Jr. 27, Schoepf 14, Spencer 11, Walker 7, Bell 6, Loveless 5, Gutierrez 3, Hunter 2

MEN’S COLLEGE WRESTLING

Grays Harbor goes 1-1 at national duals meet

Grays Harbor travelled east to Lynchburg, Virgina and split two duals meets at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association National Duals meet on Jan. 21-22 at the LaHaye Ice Center.

Grays Harbor competed in Pool A with Central Florida and defending champion and host Liberty University.

The Chokers dominated its first dual against Central Florida with a 53-6 victory before falling to Liberty 50-12.

Grays Harbor advanced to the next day’s championship round, but a postitive COVID test by an unidentified Choker caused Grays Harbor to forfeit the rest of its matches, finishing fourth in the competition.

Grays Harbor was led by Saul Rocha, Colton Duncan and Ryan Cummings, all of whom went 2-0 in pool play.

Liberty went on to defeat Apprentice School 39-7 to win the title.

Grays Harbor Results

Chokers 53, Central Florida 6

125 pounds — Donnie Krissak (Grays Harbor) via forfeit

133 — Nicolas Clay (Central Florida) via forfeit

141 — Saul Rocha (GH) over Dominick Carter (CF), Dec 6-4

149 — Elijah Gandert (GH) over Alex De Almeida (CF), Fall 2:45

157 — Colton Duncan (GH) over Nicolas Alvarez (CF), Dec 11-5

165 — Karter Kares (GH) over Charley Roche (CF), Fall 2:44

174 — Ryan Cummings (GH) over Agustin Ameigeiras (CF), Fall 0:37

184 — Desmond Bowers (GH) over Jonathan Rodriguez (CF), Fall 1:50

197 — Lucas Ashley (GH) over Jason Rehburg (CF), TF 16-0

235 — Slone Halo (GH) over Aaron Sacca (CF), Fall 2:03

285 — Octavio Alejandro (GH) over Michael Morales (CF), Fall 1:17

Liberty 50, Chokers 12

125 — Dante Mininno (Liberty) over Donnie Krissak (GH), Fall 6:40

133 – Logan Robertson (L) via forfeit

141 – Garrett Good (L) over Austin Cleland (GH), Fall 2:50

149 – Brandon Ahlemann (L) over Elijah Gandert (GH), Fall 5:37

157 – Colton Duncan (GH) over Cole Waddy (L), Fall 6:26

165 – David Over (L) over Karter Kares (GH), Fall 3:39

174 – Ryan Cummings (GH) over Theo Sewell (L), Fall 1:39

184 – Blake Barrick (L) over Desmond Bowers (GH), MD 12-2

197 – Josiah Murphy (L) over Lucas Ashley (GH), MD 15-6

235 – Jeffrey Allen (L) over Slone Halo (GH), Fall 1:35

285 – Rick Weaver (L) over Octavio Alejandro (GH), Fall 5:43