By JOSEPH W. GEX II/Sports Writer

Bay St. Louis – The Saint Stanislaus Rock-A-Chaws made the short 1.5 mile drive across Highway 90 to tangle with the Bay High Tigers on Tuesday night in a non-division contest. The Rocks topped the Tigers in overtime 50-46 due in large part from a 6-for-6 performance at the line by big-man Max Baria.

It has been quite some time since excitement surrounded the game as it did in the Wilmer Seymour Gymnasium affectionately known as the Tiger Dome.

The teams battled to a 10-10 tie at the end of the first period.

In the second period, David Belle sank a deep ball to give the Rocks a 20-14 lead with 3:02 left in the first half and with two seconds left, Carter Macias dropped a three-pointer for SSC that gave the Rocks a 23-18 advantage at intermission.

Baria put the Rocks up by 31-20 with a free throw with 1:39 left in the third period and then they would not score for almost another eight minutes. 

Ivy Williams jump started the Tigers (3-9) in the fourth period scoring 10 points off the bench in the period.

Alan Gilliam sank a bucket with 2:06 left to put SSC up 34-32 and score the Rocks’ first points in almost a full period. 

Williams sank a three-pointer with 34 seconds left that gave Bay High a 37-35 lead. 

Jason Forte dropped a floater with four seconds remaining to knot the score and force overtime. 

The Rocks sank 10-of-12 free throws in overtime with Baria dropping 6-of-7 in the extra frame for the difference. 

SSC head coach Daniel Grieves commented, “Last year this game got cancelled. This year myself and Kelton Thompson challenged the community to come out and support the two high schools and they did. There was a nice crowd. Bay High brought out the band which really pumped up the fans on both sides. It was a tremendous atmosphere for both teams. Both Coach Thompson and Bay High need to be credited for what they did to help the atmosphere. The community really needed this game tonight for both sides. We are a young team with 14 sophomores on the squad. This game helped us grow tonight when it comes to handling adversity.”

The Rocks (6-5) were led by Allen Gilliam with 16 points followed by Maxx Baria with 13 and Jason Forte added 9 points. 

Bay High head coach Kelton Thompson stated, “It was great to see people in the stands for this game. As a person who has been on both sides of this game building the programs, it was a tremendous atmosphere. SSC deserved to win the game. They did more things the right way from start to finish than we did. They were ready to play and we were not. Give Daniel Grieves and his staff credit for having his team prepared to do things the right way. We had some chances tonight to get some things done but we missed the opportunities that were presented. I though Ivy Williams played very well and gave us a glimpse of his potential. He had a tremendous fourth period and turned things around for us. He has a tremendous upside. Now, we have to get past this one and focus on the next game.”