Gage Marshall got to bring home a big award after leading his Wellsville-Middletown boys basketball team to a 55-46 double-overtime victory over Liberty Christian in its home opener at the Roundtree and Johnson Court.

The senior earned a WWE belt from the coaching staff after finishing with 17 points, including 10 in the overtime periods, to help the Tigers snap a five-game losing streak. The belt is awarded to the most valuable player in the game.

“It was awesome,” Marshall said. “We all worked together really good. We had some great teamwork.”

W-M improved to 2-5 with the victory. After starting its season with a 21-point win over Community R-6, the Tigers went 0-3 at the Montgomery County Invitational, then lost back-to-back road games to Chamois and Missouri Military Academy.

The win completed the sweep for W-M as it also beat Liberty Christian in the girls contest. The Tigers knocked off the Eagles 38-28 to win their second straight game and improve to 2-3.

Junior Helanea McKenzie said she has high hopes for her team, which has five returning players and two newcomers in Alivia Stewart and Julia Dias.

“I think we struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season, but I think as the season is going on, people like Alivia and Julia are picking up really fast and are both athletic,” McKenzie said. “The rest of our team is developing even better, so I think we’re going to have a good season.”

The W-M girls and boys teams return to action on Dec. 20, when they face Montgomery County in the Pink Out game at home. The girls game starts at 6 p.m., followed by the boys contest at 7:30 p.m.

The W-M boys came back from an eight-point, third-quarter deficit to celebrate their first double-overtime win since Feb. 2019. Coach Josh Albregts said he was thrilled with the way his team bounced back from the 59-53 loss to Missouri Military Academy the night before.

“We kind of buried ourselves in a hole against Missouri Military Academy, but it was one of those things that we weren’t firing on all cylinders,” Albregts said. “Tonight, we came back with the energy that we needed to have. So that’s what brought us to this level tonight. That’s what brought home the win tonight.”

Senior Cooper Henderson led the Tigers with 20 points. He scored a basket with 57 seconds left in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 37-37 and sent the contest to overtime.

The Tigers trailed 42-38 in the first overtime before coming back to tie the game at 42-42 on a pair of free throws from Marshall with 3.4 seconds left.

In the second overtime period, Marshall hit two more free throws with 3:47 to go to give the Tigers a 44-42 lead. He increased the lead to 46-42 after rebounded a missed free throw attempt by senior Jonah Slovensky and scored a basket with 2:44 left.

Albregts came up with the idea of awarding a belt to the most valuable player of the game when he took over the program in November. Henderson won the MVP belt after scoring 23 points in the Tigers’ win over Community on Nov. 26.

“It’s one of those things where I thought we needed an extra incentive for being the MVP of the game,” Albregts said.

Marshall’s performance at the free-throw line helped him win the MVP belt. He made nine free throws, including eight in the overtime periods.

“He put us over at the free throws and everything, so he was the MVP of the night,” Albregts said.

The Tigers never trailed in the girls contest. They led 11-2 in the first quarter and led by as many as 16 in the third.

Liberty Christian Academy got to within 33-25 midway in the fourth quarter before McKenzie scored back-to-back buckets to increase the Tigers’ lead to 38-28.

McKenzie said coach Steve Lasman was helpful in calming his team down when the Eagles were making a big run in the fourth quarter.

“He’s my favorite coach,” she said. “He’s great. He’s really good about being patient with us girls and making sure that we’re understanding in slowing things down.”

Seniors Hallie Guzy and Keigan Hall each had 12 points and McKenzie finished with seven to lead the Tigers.