CHARLESTON, SC (Jan. 28) – Wichita battled back to force overtime late in the third period, but fell to South Carolina, 5-4, on Sunday afternoon at North Charleston Coliseum.
Four different players for the Thunder scored while Jay Dickman led the way for Wichita with three points.
The Thunder opened the scoring for the first time this weekend. Dickman hammered home a one-timer at 13:40 to make it 1-0.
The Stingrays tied the game late in the frame as Jonny Evans scored at 19:47. He caught a pass in the slot and fired it past Trevor Gorsuch to make it 1-1.
In the second, Quinn Preston connected on the power play at 2:26 to re-gain the lead. He caught a pass at the edge of the left circle from Dickman, stickhandled around a defender and beat Mitchell Gibson over the blocker with a backhand to make it 2-1.
South Carolina tallied the next three of the contest. At 9:03, Ivan Lodnia spun around in the slot and beat Gorsuch with a backhand to tie it at two.
Ryan Leibold gave the Stingrays their first lead of the game at 13:22. He took a feed near the Thunder line and beat Gorsuch from in-close for his sixth of the year.
At 16:36, Bryce Montgomery hammered a one-timer from the left circle on the power play to make it 4-2.
Jason Pineo cut the lead to one at 2:57 of the third. He redirected a shot from Nolan Kneen past Gibson for his fifth of the year.
Peter Bates tied the contest at 14:06 when Dickman found him at the right post and he beat Gibson with a one-timer to make it 4-4.
In overtime, Gorsuch made two terrific saves as he stopped Michael Kim on a breakaway and then robbed Evans near the right post.
Connor Moore tallied the overtime winner at 1:21 as he fired a one-timer off the rush and beat Gorsuch for his fifth of the year.
Wichita went 1-for-4 on the power play. South Carolina was 1-for-3 on the man advantage.
Dickman had a goal and two assists. Mitchell Russell had two helpers.
The Thunder returns home on Friday, February 2 to begin a three-game series against Kansas City.
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