Staff photo / Preston Byers From left, Hubbard seniors Jakob Hayes, Anthony Clark and Kenyen Franklin react after Tuesday’s home loss to Poland.

HUBBARD — Poland and Hubbard had to wait four weeks to play each other for the second time this season, and with the Northeast 8 Conference (NE8) title at stake, they each had to wait an extra four minutes Tuesday to decide which team would emerge champions.

Unfortunately for the hometown Eagles, they will have to wait a bit longer to snap a 49-year conference title drought, as the Bulldogs successfully recovered from surrendering a late lead in regulation to edge out Hubbard 47-45 in an overtime thriller to claim the outright league title.

“I knew what this was going to be; it was going to be a battle,” Eagles head coach Ryan Fitch said. “It was a tight game at their place the first time. We took an early lead, they battled back. … I knew it was going to be a game of runs tonight. They made one early, and we countered it. And then they countered ours. We fought back and got it to overtime, and it just came down to [that] they made some big free throws down the stretch, got some big offensive rebounds down the stretch, so it just came down to that they made a couple plays down the stretch.”

Seemingly unfazed by a raucous road atmosphere, the Bulldogs jumped out to an 8-3 lead early and controlled most of the opening quarter, at the end of which they led 13-7.

Hubbard exploded to start the second quarter, however, and scored 11 straight points to take an 18-13 lead. The advantage was sparked by a flurry of Braydon Songer baskets, including one that made history.

His third field goal of the game, Songer’s 3-pointer 38 seconds into the quarter broke the program’s all-time 3-point record of 154, set by Gary Brown more than 30 years ago. Additionally, Songer, who entered the game with 994 career points, became the seventh Hubbard player to reach 1,000 points with the triple.

Despite Songer’s seven points in the quarter, the lead did not last for the Eagles, as Poland, down 22-15 at one point, scored eight straight and held Hubbard scoreless in the final three minutes to take a 23-22 edge into halftime.

The teams traded leads four times and tied each other three times in the third quarter before the Bulldogs again made a closing run. This time, they scored the final five points, taking a 36-31 lead, while blanking Hubbard over the back half of the period.

Poland briefly expanded its lead to seven early in the fourth, but Hubbard, led by Songer and Jakob Hayes, responded with a 7-0 run to again tie the game. Then, the Bulldogs’ Nick Nittoli made a 3-pointer, which was Poland’s last points of regulation and the second-to-last basket for either team in the final 4:42.

After minutes filled with missed opportunities, including scoreless trips to the free-throw line for both Hayes and Dylan BuCher, an unsuccessful Poland reverse layup, a costly turnover by each team and a missed would-be game-tying triple by Songer, it was make-or-break time for the trailing Eagles.

Unsurprisingly, they went to Songer once more, and he rewarded the faith by draining a corner three to tie the game with less than 25 seconds to go. On the other end, he blocked the shot of Poland big man Maddox Purins before Carmine Tukalo missed a game-winner at the buzzer.

“Braydon just made some big shots,” Fitch said. “They had a hand in his face, they played some box-and-one in the third quarter, and he was still able to get open and make some big shots for us. The three in the corner was an unbelievable shot. I didn’t think it had any chance of going in.”

In overtime, the Bulldogs took the first lead with a Purins basket, but Hayes responded soon after to knot the game again. After an offensive foul on Poland, Hubbard went up 45-43 on a pair of free throws by Hayes.

The lead dropped to one 24 seconds later when Purins split a pair of foul shots. BuCher then missed his free throws, allowing for Jaxon Vesey to be the hero for his team when he grabbed two offensive rebounds, drew a foul and made both of his shots at the charity stripe to give the Bulldogs a 46-45 lead with 24.9 seconds remaining.

A turnover followed for Hubbard, and after Tukalo made one of his two foul shots, the Eagles had one last chance to tie or win the game. Going to Songer again, Hubbard’s senior star was unable to come up with another clutch moment, as a would-be game-winning three from the opposite corner bounced off the rim as the final buzzer sounded.

Songer had a game-high 23 points, while Hayes had 14. For the Bulldogs, Tukalo led the way with 16 points.

While Hubbard (13-7, 10-2 NE8) came up short of its first conference title since 1977, the Eagles will have little time to rest. They visit Brookfield on Thursday and host Marlington on Friday in its regular-season finale.

As for Poland (16-5, 11-1 NE8), Tuesday’s win marked the third straight conference championship for the program. The Bulldogs are at Howland on Friday before beginning the postseason against league rival Girard next week.

“The meaning of it is continuing the legacy of Poland basketball,” Bulldogs coach Eric Fender said of the championship. “You look at Poland and what we have accomplished, even before I got here — I mean, look at Coach [Ken] Grisdale — the people before us set the standard, and our job everyday is to go out and push ourselves and keep that standard.”