HENRYVILLE
Henryville made three free throws in the final 2.3 seconds to hold off Crothersville 71-66 in a Southern Athletic Conference contest Saturday night.
Henryville, South Central and Lanesville tied for the SAC title with records of 4-1. The Tigers finished 2-3 in the SAC, as they also lost at Lanesville on Friday night 61-50.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Tigers coach Greg Kilgore said he was proud of the way his team battled back after trailing 43-28 with five minutes left in the third period of Saturday’s game.
The Tigers cut their deficit to 53-43 at the end of the third period and trailed 62-51 with 4:14 remaining when they rallied.
A layup by Lane Wienhorst brought the Tigers to within 62-59 with 2:35 remaining. The Hornets missed four straight free throws that enabled the Tigers to close the gap.
Henryville (9-13) was leading 66-60 before Cable Spall drilled a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining.
After the Hornets made two free throws with 14 seconds left, Spall hit another 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining to make it a 68-66 score.
Even though the Tigers were out of timeouts, Kilgore called a timeout to stop the clock. He said that was the only way he could get the clock stopped.
“I told Rick Jackson, one of the officials, before the play, I said, ‘If we hit a 3 here, you’re out of timeouts and your kids have battled back from 15 down and you make a 3 and cut it to one. If we’re down four, I don’t do it, but down three, it’s a one-possession game, I’m going to call an extra timeout and take the bench technical,’” he said.
“It worked out. We were actually down two, and he missed one of the two free throws, so it’s a one-possession game, and if we steal that inbound and throw something in, we’re going to overtime,” he said. “When the kids play that hard, you’ve got to do everything you can to give them a chance, as well.”
He said the 43-28 deficit in the third period was just too much to overcome.
“We got down 15 at one time, and that was too deep of a hole with a team of ball handlers that shoot free throws pretty well,” Kilgore said. “(Kade) Badger is really good with the basketball and really good at the free throw line, and when you get down 15, that’s a pretty bad combination because they get the ball to him well. He takes care of the ball well. They’re a well-coached team. They do what they do, and they do it well.”
Badger topped all players with 25 points, including 10-for-12 at the free-throw line. The Hornets made 23 of 38 for the game, and the Tigers hit 16 of 21. Henryville was 14-for-26 in the fourth period. The Tigers were called for 26 fouls and the Hornets were whistled for 13.
“I liked our battle,” Kilgore said of the rally as his team outscored Henryville 23-18 in the fourth.
Logan Brewer topped the Tigers with 21 points with 19 coming in the last three periods. He was 11-for-12 at the line. Josh Thomas scored 20, including three 3-pointers, and helped the Tigers outrebound the Hornets 27-17.
Burton scored 13.
The Tigers fell behind 19-11 at the end of the first period at Lanesville. They trailed the Eagles 34-25 at the half and were outscored 12-9 in the third.
Timmy Burton topped the Tigers in scoring with 14, and Brewer and Thomas scored 12 each.
The Tigers (11-9) will have a busy week, as they host Medora on Tuesday, will be home to Indianapolis International on Thursday and travel to Austin on Friday.