ATHENS – Neither the Wheelersburg Pirates nor the Canal Winchester Indians wanted their season to end.

Thursday, March 16, 2000

ATHENS – Neither the Wheelersburg Pirates nor the Canal Winchester Indians wanted their season to end.

In the Division III regional semifinals Wednesday at Ohio University, the Indians outlasted the Pirates 91-86 in two overtimes.

Canal Winchester (23-1) will now play Malvern at 3 p.m. Saturday in the regional finals. Malvern used a strong second half to beat previously unbeaten Eastern Brown 64-50.

Wheelersburg (20-5) was led by Jason Schmidt with 24 points and Andrew Burleson with 23 points and nine rebounds. Mike Yelley had 20 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out in the first overtime.

Greg Guiler pumped in a game-high 37 points to pace the Indians. Ricky Jordan had 15 and Ryan Gilliland added 13.

The Pirates trailed 34-30 at the half, then stormed back to take a 10-point lead late in the third quarterbefore the Indians staged their own comeback and led 49-43.

Yelley’s basket with 2.4 seconds left in regulation sent the game into its first overtime.

The lead changed hands five times in the first overtime. A 3-pointer by Guiler – he had seven for the game – put the Indians up 76-74, but Schmidt tied the game with 14 seconds left to send the game into a second extra period.

Mark Kinsel’s basket to begin the second overtime gave the Indians the lead for good. Canal Winchester was ahead by as many as 10 points in the period and converted 9 of 10 from the foul line.

Wheelersburg 18 12 13 15 8 10 – 86

C. Winchester 17 17 15 19 8 15 – 91

WHEELERSBURG (20-4): Jason Schmidt 7-18 (2-5) 8-9 24, Andy Gill 0-3 (0-2) 0-0 0, Geoff Givan 2-4 (0-0) 2-3 6, Andrew Burleson 9-17 (2-2) 3-4 23, Mike Yelley 8-9 (0-0) 4-7 20, Bryan Yelley 3-4 (1-2) 1-2 8, Paul Miller 2-3 (1-2) 0-0 5. Totals: 31-58 (6-13) 18-25 86. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: M. Yelley, Gill. Rebounds: 40 (M. Yelley 13, Burleson 9). Assists: 11 (Gill 6). Steals: 3. Turnovers: 18.

CANAL WINCHESTER (23-1): Ricky Jordan 4-11 (2-5) 5-9 15, Ryan Gilliland 4-8 (2-3) 3-3 13, Greg Guiler 10-15 (7-12) 10-13 37, Robbie Cothern 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0, Mark Kinsel 2-3 (0-1) 4-5 8, Jeff Krigbaum 3-3 (0-0) 0-1 6, Kyle McFerin 2-2 (0-0) 0-0 4, Ryan Speakman 3-10 (0-0) 2-4 8. Totals: 28-55 (11-22) 24-34 91. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Krigbaum. Rebounds: 20 (Guiler 10). Assists: 12 (Kinsel 5, Guiler 4). Turnovers: 14.