COSBY-If one heart attack wasn't enough for Cosby fans on Tuesday evening, those that stuck around for the guys game probably had a second one.

Down by five points with under a minute left in regulation, the Eagles scored seven straight points and came from behind to defeat Gatlinburg-Pittman by a 43-41 score. The victory avenged a 10-point loss to the Highlanders on December 10.  

After a basket from Timmy Smelcer with 38 seconds on the clock which cut the deficit to just three, the Eagles (14-7) forced a turnover and got the ball to Smelcer once again and he headed to the free throw line following a foul with 25 seconds left.

After hitting both free throws, the Eagles had to foul to try and extend the game.

Following the foul, the Highlanders missed both shots, and Cosby called a timeout to try and set up a potential game winning shot trailing by just one.

After the inbounds play, Smelcer broke free for a brief moment and got a very tough shot inside the lane to fall and was fouled, pushing Cosby in front by two with 2.9 seconds left following the free throw that sent the Eagles crowd into a frenzy.

The Highlanders couldn�t even get a shot off in the final seconds and the Eagles celebrated the huge win.

�I�m kind of speechless right now. I�m just very proud of my team,� Marsh said. �We were down five with under a minute to go but we still did not give up. That was the mantra. I put on the board for pre-game, �Whatever it Takes,� whether it�s diving for loose balls, taking a charge.�

�People may look at that and say it�s an ugly win but it�s the prettiest win I�ve ever seen. To hold a good 2A team in G-P to 41 points, that was pretty strong,� Marsh said.

For the full story, see the January 24 edition of the Newport Plain Talk.