Logan Brewer was in the right place at the right time for the Crothersville boys’ basketball team Friday night.
Brewer’s 12-foot bank shot at the buzzer gave Crothersville a 63-61 win against Trinity Lutheran in the Bollinger Athletic Complex on Trinity’s senior night game.
Tigers coach Greg Kilgore credited Brewer and Zane Elliott with leading the Tigers in the second half.
“I think Elliott was the difference in the second half,” Kilgore said. “He played a lot better in the second half than in the first half. In the first half he had a couple of turnovers that are uncharacteristic of him. I don’t know how many assists he had in the second half but he ended up with some rebounds and made some passes to get us out to a 9-point lead. He was the straw that stirred our drink tonight.
“Logan Brewer really played a heck of a game offensively. We really tried to focus getting the ball inside to Dylan Wilson. Dylan struggled a little bit tonight. I don’t know if it was nerves being back in his hometown or what. But whatever it was with Dylan, Logan stepped up to the plate.”
Brewer topped all players with 23 points. Thomas scored 13, Wienhorst 11 and Wilson 10.
The Tigers, on the strength of seven points by Josh Thomas and two 3-pointers by Lane Wienhorst, held a 15-13 at the end of the first period.
Jacob Rowe had a 3-pointer, and Tyler Goecker had two baskets to lead the Cougars.
The teams battled back-and-forth at the start of the second quarter as a 3-point basket by Matt Wilburn gave the Tigers a 19-15 lead before the Cougars rallied to outscore the Tigers 22-6 over the last four minutes of the half to lead 37-28 at the break.
The Cougars went on a 9-0 run, with four of those points coming on free throws by Jacob Rowe as a result of two technical fouls called on the Tigers.
Rowe also had two 3-pointers for 10 points in the quarter. Trent Shoemaker also had a hot hand for the Cougars in the second period with a 3-pointer and a total of 7 points.
The Cougars shot 13-for-24 and the Tigers 10-for-27 in the first half.
The Cougars stretched their lead to 40-30 on a 3-point basket by Tyler Goecker early in the third period before Logan Brewer and Wienhorst made back-to-back threes, and Brewer added a three-point play to close the difference to one point.
The Tigers (10-3) took the lead on a rebound basket by Dylan Wilson at 3:50.
After Tyler Goecker hit two free throws for the Cougars the Tigers went on an 10-0 run to take a 51-42 lead with 2:00 left in the period.
Trinity then scored five straight points with a 3-pointer by Jacob Rowe cutting the difference to 51-47, and Crothersville took a 53-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers opened up a 59-53 lead on two free throws by Thomas with 4:55 remaining. The Cougars rallied back and tied the game at 61 on a layup by Shoemaker with 22 seconds remaining.
“When we came out in the second half, they had a big run and they had a lot of momentum shifted their way and got right back in the game and then it was a dogfight to the end,” Cougars coach Brian Stuckwisch said. “During the last time out, we had our defense set up to be prepared for what we thought they were going to do. When they took it out, we were in the same thing, same defense again, and Brewer is a very good shooter and he knocked it down. They had a really good game and they played well.”
Rowe topped the Cougars (5-11) with 19 points, Tyler Goecker scored 13, Shoemaker scored 11, and Jack Marksberry 10.
Trinity will travel to Paoli tonight, and Crothersville will travel to Columbus Christian tonight.