T.J. Roberts’ 3-point basket with two seconds remaining in the second overtime period capped off a furious rally by the undefeated South Paulding Spartans, as they came from behind to defeat the Woodland Wildcats, 58-56.

The Spartans (4-0) rally began just when it seemed that the Wildcats had everything going their way.

Carrod Watson had just scored his second basket of the game to give the Wildcats a 44-37 lead late in the fourth quarter, only to head to the bench seconds later after fouling out.

Without Watson's dominating presence inside, the Spartans’ guards began to penetrate Woodland’s half-court defense.

“His [Carrod’s] fouling out didn’t cost us the game,” Woodland boys coach John Howard said. “We just got outplayed and outhustled. I can only imagine how many offensive rebounds they had.”

Ladeavon Matthews’ 3-point basket at the buzzer culminated an 11-4 run by South Paulding that sent the game into overtime with the scored tied at 48-48.

Woodland could have very well lost in regulation, except that Tae Covington converted all four of his free throw attempts.

“At the end, we got lazy with the basketball and committed too many turnovers,” said Howard following the Wildcats’ first loss of the season.

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