The only thing it didn’t contain was a victory for the host school.

After Sheffield’s Tyler Hepinger nailed a 3 to send the game to overtime, Port Allegany’s Howie Stuckey scored the first six points of the extra session to help lead his team to a 53-47 win.

“It was fun,” said Sheffield coach Mike Knapp. “You always want to get the ‘W,’ but we know that we’re really young. We have a few guys banged up that played through it.”

Hepinger was brilliant for the Wovlerines. The sophomore guard poured in a game-high 22 points

Sheffield’s Tyler Hepinger drives to the basket during the first half of Friday’s game in the Sheffield Sports Boosters Tip-Off Tournament against Port Allegany. Hepinger scored a game-high 22 points, including the game-tying 3 with 11 seconds left that sent the game to overtime.

And it was the execution down the stretch that had their coach excited.

“Since I’ve been here, it’s been a growth thing,” Knapp said. “Where now some of them are starting to see when we draw things up ‘oh, that’s what you want me to do.’ It’s not perfect, but you saw signs today. We were able to get the shot to tie it and that was a good sign.”

Stuckey, who was fifth in District 9 in scoring a season ago at 20.9 ppg., was held in check most of the game, scoring just eight points in regulation.

He had a shot to win it at the buzzer that fell short, but immediately went to work in overtime, showing off his full repertoire, including a reverse layup and a hook shot, to give the Gators a 6-point lead they didn’t relinquish.

“I think we just ran out of gas,” Knapp added.

Sheffield coach Mike Knapp (left) talks to his team in the huddle moments after Tyler Hepinger hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter against Port Allegany on Friday.

Early, it was the Wolverines’ defense that stifled Stuckey and helped them get out to a 10-3 lead after a putback by Mitchell McNeal.

McNeal, a junior forward, had a big game as well with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Port Allegany rallied to tie the game at 10-10, and the two teams took turns trading buckets and went into the half tied at 24-24, with Stuckey scoring just four in the half.

“They have a really great player in Stuckey and our goal was to try not to let him beat us,” Knapp said. “For most of the game we did a pretty good job of that. We decided to go triangle-and-2 after watching film. We tried to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible, and when he did have the ball in his hands, we made him work.”

Port Allegany rattled of the first six points of the second half, a brief run that was halted by a bucket from Tony Richards.

Sheffield’s Gavin LaVan clamps down on his man during the second half of Friday’s Sheffield Sports Boosters Tip-Off Tournament game against Port Allegany

Just a freshman playing in his first varsity game, Richards was very good, scoring 13 points.

Port Allegany led 33-26 going into the fourth quarter, but the Wolverines rallied to tie the game at 35-35 after a layup by McNeal on a nice pass by Walker Kyler.

A circus layup by Stuckey put them up 41-38, and Richards cut the lead to 1 before Jordan Card, who scored 19 points to lead Port, hit a pair of free throws, setting up Hepinger’s big shot.

Jakob Vinopal pulled down five rebounds for Sheffield despite being saddled with foul trouble, and Dominic Guerrero came off the bench to score 10 points for the Gators, 9 of which came in the first half.

“It excites them all,” said Knapp about playing in an overtime game. “You haven’t played a real game in so long. And the practices are long, they can get a little monotonous. When you get in a game that’s a lot of fun like that, it makes them want to play more.”

Sheffield will play North Clarion in the consolation game at 4:30 p.m. today, while Port Allegany battles Jamestown (Pa.) for the title at 7:30.

– – –

PORT ALLEGANY (53)

Card 6-5-8-19, Stuckey 7-0-0-14, Smith 2-2-3-7, McNeil 0-0-0-0, Edgell 0-0-2-0, Guerrero 2-4-6-10, Smoker 1-0-0-3, Benson 0-0-0-0, Moses 0-0-0-0, Amell 0-0-0-0, Totals 18-11-19-53

SHEFFIELD (47)

Hepinger 8-4-6-22, McNeal 3-4-4-10, Kyler 0-0-0-0, Vinopal 1-0-2-2, Richards 5-2-3-13, LaVan 0-0-0-0, Benjamin 0-0-0-0, Johnson 0-0-0-0, Albaugh 0-0-0-0, Copley 0-0-0-0, Totals 17-10-25-47

By Quarters

Port Allegany 5 19 9 10 8 – 53

Sheffield 10 14 2

Three-point FGs: – Port Allegany (3) – Card 2, Smith; Sheffield (3) – Hepinger 2, Richards