Forest Lake Christian's boys 7th grade basketball team had its fastbreak going here against Seven Hills in Thursday's Nevada County Athletic League action. Here, FLC's Kyle Soria (3) drives past Seven Hills' Trevor Humphries (15). See story below for a complete roundup of Thursday's NCAL games. obfoto,com

40-foot buzzer beater highlights Gilmore OT win

Saying that it was a very exciting week for the Lyman Gilmore School boys 7th grade basketball team may be putting it mildly.

Capping off a madcap week of thrilling nail-biters, the Bombers’ 7th graders on Thursday afternoon at home versus Magnolia used a miraculous game tying shot to force overtime and then played steady in the extra session to pull out a 37-34 Nevada County Athletic League win over the Rattlers.

The overtime victory was the second time this week that the Bombers had gone past regulation to nail down a triumph. On Tuesday, Gilmore slipped past Seven Hills, 35-34, also in OT.

In Thursday’s game, Gilmore trailed Magnolia 31-28 with less than six seconds to play when a long Rattlers pass turned into a turnover and left the Bombers with a last gasp.

In the final seconds, Bombers coach Bruce Grininger put the ball in the hands of Jericho Mendez and it paid off as a falling away 40-footer by Mendez split the chords as the buzzer sounded and tied the game at 31-31.

In the overtime, Mendez added another three-pointer and Jess Sutton bagged a pair of free throws for the margin of victory. Magnolia saw its chances of winning take a blow by missing eight free throws in the overtime period.

Mendez finished with a season high 25 points while Sutton added 6 points.

Jordan Hodgkins came off the bench for ther Bombers with some impressive defense and three steals.

For Magnolia Wyatt Mitzel scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds while John Vroter added 8 points and snared 13 more boards. Both Brett Soloman and Travis Whitehead were credited with strong defensive games.

In other NCAL 7th grade action Thursday:

Forest Lake Christian 41 Seven Hills 34, at Nevada City – Forest Lake used a sturdy second half to rally from a one-point halftime deficit and pick up the road win over the Raiders.

Logan Markstein sank 13 points and David O’Brien and Kyle Soria both chipped in with 10 each has the Falcons squared their NCAL record at 2-2.

Seven Hills (0-3) was led by Trevor Humphries with 10 points, Trent Foster with eight and Steven Skaggs and Matt Demele with five points apiece.

NCAL 7th Grade

Gilmore, 4-0

Weimar Hills, 3-0

Magnolia, 2-2

Forest Lake, 2-2

Union Hill, 1-2

Seven Hills, 0-3

Pleasant Valley, 0-3

8th Grade

Union Hill 54 Pleasant Valley 41 - Union Hill came back from a first quarter deficit to take a 54-41 boys 8th grade NCAL win over Pleasant Valley at Lake Wildwood.

Both  John Henry Jones and Nolan Stefani played well for the Vikings with

Stefani hitting a couple of 3s towards the end of regulation.

For the Bearcats, Jake Berger scored 19, Kyle McCombs 14, and Michael Tapia had eight.  On the defensive end, Nathan Selleck played extremely well by continually hounding PV's point guard. Selleck also chipped in with six points.

Meanwhile, McCombs and Beau DesPois cleaned up on the boards. Union Hill is now 3-0 in NCAL action while PV slips to 2-1,

Gilmore 52 Magnolia 49, at Grass Valley - In another tight game played at Gilmore, Jason Murray tallied 14 points and Greg Paul sank 10 has the Bombers pulled out the victory over the Rattlers.

Gilmore coach Chuck Smith singled out Logan Gardner and Gareth Noxon for fine defensive outings in the win. Gilmore is now 2-2 in 8th grade action while Magnolia falls to 1-3.

Forest Lake 39 Seven Hills 37, at Nevada City – Seven Hills used a furious second half rally to come back from an 11-point halftime deficit but the visiting Falcons were able to hold on for the win.

“We had five shots in the last 15 seconds and couldn’t get one to go down,” said Seven Hills coach Steve Belch. “It was a good game though.”

Forest Lake was led by Jacob Yarborough with 14 points while Lucas Vojak tallied 10 to spark Seven Hills.

NCAL 8th Grade

Weimar Hills, 3-0

Union Hill, 3-0

Pleasant Valley, 2-1

Seven Hills, 1-2

Forest Lake, 1-3

Gilmore, 1-3