MALDEN -- A shot that hadn't fell in either overtime was suddenly magic for Charleston's Sam Bledsoe when his team needed it the most against Malden.
Not only was the sophomore's aim from the corner on the money, but the 3-point specialist drew a foul for a rare 4-point play that was pivotal in the Bluejays' 81-79 double-overtime win against a district rival Tuesday at Malden High School.
"He can shoot it," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said of Bledsoe. "I don't put the red light on him. He has the green light all the time. He hit some big ones earlier too, so sooner or later I figured he'd hit one. He hit it at the right time. That was the game-changer."
Before his game-winner, Bledsoe was in a cold slump that came at the worst possible time.
After hitting six 3-pointers in the contest, he missed his final attempt in regulation before extending his drought to four straight attempts as one overtime gave way to another.
With his team trailing 77-75 in the final minute of the second extra-session, Bledsoe got the chance to make things right. Almost as quickly as a teammate got him the ball in the left corner, Bledsoe sent a shot up that went in as he was knocked to the ground.
The whistle and basket came in succession, leading to cheers from the Bluejay faithful while teammates helped Bledsoe to his feet.
One made free throw later and Charleston turned a two-point deficit into a two-point lead, 79-77, on a single possession with 40 seconds to play.
Still with a shot to tie or take the lead, the Green Wave's final hopes were dashed by Charleston sophomore Terridean Bogan.
Malden took the clock down from 40 to 10 seconds before setting up their final shot. Before they could get it off Bogan stripped the Green Wave's ball handler near the baseline for a steal that he ran down the court.
After setting up under the basket Bogan waited for an over-eager Malden defender to come down off his jump before putting up an easy basket that iced the game.
"It's frustrating to lose, especially in double overtime against a district team," Green Wave head coach Andrew Halford said. "But we put ourselves in a good position to win the game a couple times. Then the Bledsoe kid, who lit us up most of the game, made a tough play. But we are okay. It's tough to lose like that but we will bounce back from it."
Bledsoe teamed up with senior Demarcus Sharp to provide the bulk of the offense while Malden held Bluejay senior Mardareyon Clark to an unusually quiet night of five points on 1 of 7 shooting.
The duo combined for 53 points with all 22 of Bledsoe's coming from beyond the arc. Sharp did his damage at closer range, going 12 of 19 (63 percent) on two pointers while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out seven assists.
Clark helped make up for a slow offensive night with a team-high 10 rebounds to go with three assists and two blocks. Bledsoe added four rebounds and two steals to his totals, shooting 7 of 17 on the night, all from 3-point range.
Delontre Gillespie was third on the team with 10 points, shooting a perfect 5 of 5 from the field and hauling in six rebounds.
"I was really pleased with Bledsoe to come in and be that other double-figure guy," Farmer said. "This is his third game in a row to score in double figures, so he's coming around here at the end of the season."
On a night where most schools in the areas cancelled all activities, the Bluejays (16-7) and Green Wave pushed up their schedule start time by over two hours, hoping to beat the incoming winter storm. Malden came out hot from deep, hitting six 3-pointers in the first quarter and eight in the first half. They cooled off, only hitting one three in the final two quarters, but the strong started helped them stay in the driver's seat most of regulation.
The Green Wave led by as many as 10 in the second half and with 6:47 left in the fourth quarter were still up 63-55.
Poor free throw shooting on Malden's part ignited a 13-1 Charleston run that allowed the Bluejays to retake the lead, 68-64 with 3:14 remaining in regulation.
With the game knotted up in the final minute, Sharp drove the lane to put his team ahead 70-68, only to see Malden's Chience Booker tie the game with 37 seconds left.
A walk by the Bluejays gave the Green Wave a chance at a game-winning shot, but a miss was grabbed by Clark near the buzzer to force overtime.
"Our defense came through right at the end of regulation," Farmer said. "We made some key stops and everything. We didn't rebound very well. Malden went cold. Booker was lighting it up at the beginning, but at the end he couldn't hit anything. I kept watching him bombing them and thought sooner or later one is going in."
Both teams struggled from the field throughout both extra-sessions, scoring only a basket each in the first overtime and going scoreless for almost the final three minutes.
A Dushawn Butler bucket put Malden ahead with 2:24 left in the second overtime, which led to a Sharp steal a minute later to tie the game again.
Annesser put the Green Wave on top with 1:12 to play, 76-74, with a basket in the paint but missed the free throw after drawing a foul.
Shooters from each team hit on half a set of free throws soon after to keep it a two-point game heading into Bledsoe's game-winning shot.
"Both teams probably shot 60 percent from the field in the first half," Halford said. "Everybody was on fire early. It was nice to be hot early but we knew at some point somebody was going to cool off and we were going to have to do something else to put ourselves in a position to win besides trying to outscore them. Our defense was okay, but Bledsoe got loose a bunch and we gave up too many offensive rebounds."
Butler led Malden with 26 points, hitting four 3-pointers and going 6 of 7 at the foul line. Booker hit the team's other four 3-pointers on his way to 18 points and Annesser was close behind with 17 points.
Troubles at the free throw line hurt the Green Wave late, hitting on 18 of 31 attempts (58 percent) and hitting only 3 of 9 (33 percent) from the fourth quarter on.
"A great game and it could have gone either way," Farmer said. "I knew coming in they had a good shooting team. We had to play better than we normally play to come out with the win. I got good effort from some of my kids off the bench, who came in and played well. That's a team to be reckoned with in districts."