Trinity Lutheran’s boys basketball team held a 25-19 lead entering the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game against Southwestern (Shelby) in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.
With two seconds remaining in the game, the Cougars still only had 25 points on the scoreboard.
Caleb Williams put up a half-court shot at the buzzer for the Cougars’ only points of the fourth quarter as they fell to the Spartans 31-28.
The Cougars’ offense was nonexistent for the first 7:58 of the final period as they missed all 6 of their field goal attempts, missed all 3 free throw attempts and had 7 turnovers during that time.
The Cougars (1-2) got off to an excellent start by taking a 7-0 lead on a layup by Mitchell Hackman at 5:15 of the first period.
That was Hackman’s second layup of the game, and Sage Broughton hit a 3-pointer during that span.
Trinity hit 5 of 8 shots from the floor in the opening quarter and held an 11-2 lead at the end of the period with Hackman making all three of his shots during that time.
After the Spartans scored the first two baskets of the second period, Jacob Conrad scored on a move to the basket, and Hackman closed Trinity’s scoring in the first half with a 3-pointer to give the hosts a 20-9 lead at the half.
Trinity’s shooting cooled off to 2-for-10 from the floor in the third period, but the Cougars maintained a 6-point lead going into the final quarter.
Southwestern took its first lead of the game at 26-25 on a layup by Jordan Jones with 2:30 remaining.
Hackman topped the Cougars with 11 points and was the only Trinity player with over 5 points as the Cougars finished with 12-for-37 shooting from the floor and were 1-for-7 at the line.
They finished with 16 turnovers to 10 for the Spartans. Southwestern shot 11-for-37 from the floor and made 7 of 11 free throws.
Aidan Hartsell topped the Spartans (2-2) with 15 points.
The Cougars will play at West Washington tonight with the JV game set to start at 6 p.m.