With the clock ticking down, a jumper by teammate Darius Jones went off the rim to the far side of the hoop, landing in the Maple Grove senior’s hands.

“We knew we wanted to get it to whoever had the open shot and have everyone crash the boards,” Auer said. “It just happened to fall into my hands.”

With time expiring, Auer went back up with a shot and drained it. By the time he turned around to look at the far scoreboard, the buzzer sounded to signal the result his shot had just made possible: a 99-97 two-overtime victory over New York State Sportswriters Association’s Class D No. 1 team Panama in a Chautauqua Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West matchup Thursday night.

Immediately following, Auer turned to his classmates who by that time had already stormed the gymnasium floor.

Panama’s Cameron Barmore dribbles up the court during the Panthers’ CCAA Division 2 West game against Maple Grove on Thursday at Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School. P-J photo by Cameron Hurst

“When it went in, I just wanted to run to my student section,” Auer said, referring to the packed house on Dutch Hollow Road. “They had done such a great job all night of supporting us.”

Prior to the game-winning shot, Jones converted a layup to extend the Red Dragons’ lead to three. But, a trey by Panama’s Cooper Brown fell to tie the game at 97 with 12 seconds left, setting up Maple Grove’s last possession.

“I had some guys who don’t normally hit some big shots step up and hit some really big shots in some really key moments,” Panama coach Ed Nelson said after the game. “We came up and pressured because they could’ve run the clock out and leave three seconds if we hadn’t. But, tie ball game, they got on a run, missed a shot and Pete did a great job cleaning up the garbage.”

Thursday night’s game served as a rematch of a Dec. 18 meeting in which the Panthers held off a comeback by the Red Dragons in an 83-76 victory at Panama.

“We’ve been struggling since that last game,” Maple Grove head coach Al Roller said after the victory over his alma mater. “After our last game (Nelson) said, ‘I can’t wait to play you guys again,’ but we’ve been shooting poorly and hadn’t really beaten a good team and finally tonight, we had the atmosphere and the game we needed.”

Maple Grove (6-5, 4-4) led for most of the game, holding a 44-41 lead at halftime after 15 first-half points from Auer, who went toe-to-toe with Panama’s Cameron Barmore, who recorded 19 of his game-high 44 points in the first half for the Panthers. Auer finished with 33.

“It’s hard to play kids like Barmore,” Roller said. “He’s so athletic and so good. He could go play in college in three different sports at a high level. We just had to run and play crazy defense. Our quickness went to it.”

The Red Dragons held a 60-57 lead heading into the fourth quarter and held a 75-72 lead with 40 seconds left after two free throws from Jones. But Connor Cooper answered right back for the Panthers, draining a 3-pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation.

During the first overtime, Panama (11-2, 6-2) nearly sealed the victory after Barmore converted two foul shots with 32.3 seconds left before Auer, who scored nine points after regulation, converted two of his own to force another overtime.

“This means so much for Pete,” Roller said of the son of Kari and Hans Auer. “For all these guys, we needed a win. We just hadn’t put together a whole game yet and now we have a day off before we head to Buffalo on Saturday to play St. Mary’s.”

Nelson, meanwhile, is optimistic that his team will rally from this loss.

“We just have to keep taking a step forward and keep getting better,” he said. “We’re going to do that. I have no disbelief that that’s what is going to happen.”

Roller is optimistic, as well.

“The boys showed up today,” the 1993 graduate of Panama said of his team. “They started to buy it. They’re starting to believe it.”

NOTES: Barmore finished the game with 19 rebounds to record a double-double. Cooper led the Panthers with 10 assists. … Maple Grove also received offensive contributions from Tyler McPherson, who finished with 20 points. Jones and Ayden Reagle also added in 17 points apiece. Auer tied for the team-lead in rebounds with his cousin, Riley, with eight. Darius Jones finished with nine assists.

PANAMA (97)

Brown 2 3 7, Cook 1 0 11, Cooper 1 0 5, Barmore 14 14 44, Hinsdale 7 5 22. Totals 21 22 97.

MAPLE GROVE (99)

Jones, 5 5 17, PAuer 12 8 33, Egan 1 0 4, Reagle 7 0 17, 1 0 2, Crist 1 0 2, Kelemen 2 1 5, RAuer 0 1 1, McPherson 7 3 20. Totals 30 18 99.

3-point goals–Brown 2, Cook 3, Cooper, Barmore 2, Hinsdale 3, Reagle 3, McPherson 3.

Panama 20 21 16 18 10 12 — 97

Maple Grove 20 24 16 15 10 14 — 99