Johnston High School had a made-for-TV second half comeback Thursday night against Toll Gate High School. The Panthers, down 10 at the half, were rallied by sophomore Ryan Yankee’s 14 points to log their first win of the season in a game on the road that went down to the wire, 41-40.

The Toll Gate Titans took an early lead in the game and, after trading a couple of baskets, found a four-point lead, 8-4, with nine minutes remaining in the first half. This would be the closest Johnston would get in the first half, with Toll Gate breaking the game wide open from a combination of turnovers and rebounding that led to fast break opportunities. Toll Gate guards Joel Johnson and Austin Giard helped lead the effort with dynamic passing in the open court to help build a commanding 17-6 Titans’ lead.

While Toll Gate went on a 9-2 run Johnston struggled from the field, relying on free throw shooting to stay in the game as much as possible. It wasn’t until the 2:06 mark that the Panthers ended their drought from the field, bringing the game to 17-10.

The Titans wouldn’t be slowed down though, and with a few more fast break opportunities, the home team took a 25-15 lead at the half.

Johnson head coach Bobby Sandquist recognized that his team wasn’t playing with enough urgency. With too many fast breaks, Sandquist needed to make adjustments to his defense, so he decided to open the second half with a full court press to bring the game to a pace where his team could compete.

The second half began with the Titans getting a little spark on offense, but the Panthers were not deterred. Johnston took full advantage of their height to grab rebounds off missed shots and convert them into second chance points. The Panthers made sure to force uncomfortable shots from Toll Gate by speeding up their defense.

“[Johnston] started off playing slow in the first half,” Toll Gate head coach Tom Rayko reflected. “In the second half they started speeding up, which caused turnovers on our end and helped them fast break a little more which got them going.”

Toll Gate got a few fast break opportunities but they were slowing down, and it showed. Johnston struck during this time and started moving the ball more on offense, speeding up the game for Toll Gate’s defense and giving them more open shots. The Panthers were breaking down the Titans 2-3 zone to find openings that would lead to a 14-2 run to bring the Panthers within striking distance, 29-27.

Ryan Yankee, who had 10 of his 14 points in the second half, was getting his teammates fired up by drilling three-point field goals off inbounds passes and defensive lapses.

With 9:33 left in the second half, the game was tied up at 29.

“That really got our emotions going, we’re an emotional team,” Sandquist said of the run.

With 8:30 left to play, Johnston would take its first lead of the game, 31-29.

Things didn’t get easier, as both teams brought their grittiness on the floor at that point. Balls were wrestled for and both teams boxed each other out aggressively. Toll Gate had opportunities to tie it on fast breaks, but couldn’t convert. They were given another opportunity and took the lead with a three-point shot. Johnston answered right away with a two-pointer, followed immediately by another scoring opportunity to put the Panthers up 35-32.

The Titans felt their chance at a comfortable win slipping away, and played as tough as they could. Their scrappy style of play was getting the better of them, however, and Johnston was given opportunities to further their lead at the line. Johnston went up by five, 37-32, with 5:15 left for their largest lead of the game.

But Toll Gate tied it up with two quick free throws, followed by a highly contested three-pointer.

The game was going down to the wire. Johnston was able to climb a little higher thanks to their free throw shooting, while Toll Gate went 0-of-2 from the line for what would have been another game tying opportunity with 1:22 left.

With 44 seconds left on the clock Johnston was sent to the line and made 1-of-2 free throws, going up 41-38.

The Panthers turned the ball over with 14 seconds left and the Titans capitalized, putting them within one of Johnston, 41-40. Toll Gate fouled to send Johnston to the line, and Johnston missed their opportunity to add easy baskets.

With five seconds left, Toll Gate recovered the ball and had one opportunity to win the game. Johnston used a full court press, and Toll Gate pushed the press as fast as they could. The clock ticked down and Toll Gate put up a shot at the buzzer that clanked off the back of the rim and away from the net.

“The goal was to have them take as much time off the clock as possible,” Sandquist said afterwards. “He wasn’t supposed to get an open look like he did. I can tell you, from my seat it looked like it was going in.”

“Look for the best shot you can,” explained Rayko about the last play. “We had an open three, and had it with the kid who can hit threes. We just didn’t have a good, probable shot [from his position on the court].”

With the win, Johnston moved to 1-0 on the season, while Toll Gate dropped to 0-3. Both teams are confident going forward. “We have some of the pieces, we just need to put them together,” Rayko said.