By Jordan Morey
EDINBURGH
In the season of giving, Edinburgh’s boys basketball team snatched a game away from Jac-Cen-Del.
The Lancers (3-8) overcame a second-half double-digit deficit and forced overtime on a 3-pointer with five seconds left in regulation before grinding it out in extra minutes to escape with a 65-60 victory on Wednesday.
With the win, the Lancers placed third of eight teams in the Edinburgh Classic holiday tournament.
Despite a hot start from the outside for the Lancers — which would carry throughout the game as they drained 10 3-pointers — the Eagles would take the early lead with their inside game.
Eagles 6-foot-9 junior Conner Hubbard accounted for eight of the team’s first 11 points as they led 11-7 with 4:01 on the clock.
The Lancers drilled back-to-back 3-pointers, with baskets from Coltan Henderson and Justin Fosskuhl, but the Eagles responded by closing the quarter on a 10-3 run capped by an alley-oop layup to Hubbard at the buzzer.
Edinburgh hit four treys in the opening eight minutes, but trailed the Eagles 23-16.
Needing a change of pace, the Lancers switched to a full-court press in the second quarter.
From the 4:59 to 3:04-mark, the Lancers went on a 6-0 scoring spree behind baskets from Hunter Dean, Parker Bryant and Cameron Cravens.
At intermission, the Eagles had a 29-22 lead.
Jac-Cen-Del held a 16-6 advantage in rebounding but had 10 turnovers to the Lancers’ five giveaways.
After the break, the Eagles built their lead to 38-28 by 5:29 in the third quarter by attacking the rim.
Unhappy with the game’s pace, Lancers coach Drew Glentzer changed up the defense again and got the Eagles’ best weapon off the floor.
“Defensively, we struggled to guard Hubbard,” Glentzer said. “He was either going to score or get a foul. We forced a little more pressure at the half court which turned into turnovers. They wanted a half court game, but when (Henderson) got in foul trouble it was a night and day difference. They struggled to score when he didn’t play.”
The Lancers chipped away, going on a 7-2 scoring streak at the end of the third quarter, but trailed 46-38 heading into the final eight minutes of play.
With the intensity up, stemming from defensive pressure, the Lancers opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 scoring string.
In that run, a 3-pointer from Henderson gave 3-pointer the Lancers their first lead at 47-46 with 5:23 left in regulation.
“Overall, I thought playing in a half court trap got us playing harder and faster,” Glentzer said. “It kind of woke us up a little bit. I didn’t think we played very well for two quarters. By the time we were down (10), it was a wakeup call for us.”
The teams traded baskets until the Eagles’ Michael Flint hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to build the lead at 55-52.
With five ticks left on the clock, Fosskuhl sank a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc on a kick-out from Parker Bryant to tie the game and force four more minutes.
“They extended their zone and put emphasis on guarding Henderson,” Glentzer said of the tying shot .”The zone was really wide and the kids drove to the basket and got the ball to shooters.”
In overtime, the Lancers held the Eagles to just five points while hitting five of six free throws and adding a 3-pointer (Fosskuhl) and layup (Bryant).
In those minutes, Hubbard fouled out with 2:37 on the scoreboard clock, and Glentzer said that might have made the difference.
Fosskuhl led the Lancers with 19 points, Henderson added 16 and Bryant totaled 15.
Hubbard topped the Eagles’ boxscore with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
JCD finished on top in rebounds, 38-22, but committed 20 turnovers to the Lancers’ nine.
