HOPE — When Hauser’s Koby Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1.7 seconds remaining and Eastern (Pekin)’s Eli Guthrie grabbed the rebound, it looked like the game was headed to overtime.
Bryce Bates had other ideas.
As Guthrie casually tossed the ball to a teammate, Bates stepped in front and stole the pass. The Hauser junior then laid the ball in the basket just before the buzzer sounded to give the Jets a 50-48 victory Saturday afternoon.
“Originally, I was going to be back and try to not give them any free throws because they were in the double-bonus,” Bates said. “Then, coach (Brent Keck) told me to get down there for the rebound. I thought Koby’s shot was going in. When their post player got the rebound, I was trying to read his eyes. He just threw a lob pass, and I was able to get there in time. I was just hoping for the best, and it worked out.”
The Musketeers (6-8) led 48-46 and had the ball when Kobe Meahl came up with a steal and layup to tie the game with 1:45 remaining. Eastern then played for a final shot, but Owen Pickrell missed a 3-pointer and 6-foot-10 Jacob Cherry was called for an over-the-back foul on Johnson on the rebound.
The foul was the fifth on Cherry, who had given Hauser (8-7) fits when he was on the floor, but he was on the bench for the final free throw and Bates’ steal and layup.
“We were fortunate there with that situation,” Keck said. “Bryce did a great job getting a touch and finishing the play. We talk about playing to the end, so I’m real happy for our kids. We were just fortunate to have the ball last today.”
The Jets led 30-22 at halftime after taking advantage of Cherry being on the bench for most of the second quarter. Cherry then scored 12 of the Musketeers’ 19 points in the third quarter that allowed them to take a 41-39 lead heading into the fourth.
Eli Miller hit four 3-pointers and scored a career-high 16 points to lead the Jets.
“They were guarding Bryce and Koby in the post, so they had easy kick-outs,” Miller said.
Bates finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Meahl and Johnson also scored 10 points apiece.
“I thought it was a phenomenal team effort, and that’s what we are,” Keck said. “We are a by-committee team. I’m proud of our kids. We kept fighting, and I think we’re getting a little bit better on some concepts that we’ve talked about defensively with our preparation. I think we made some really good strides in January. We just want to keep getting better, and by the time we get to March, we want to be playing our best basketball.”
With the win, Hauser now has one more victory than it had all of last season. Friday’s Mid-Hoosier Conference win at Waldron also gave the Jets one more conference win that last year.
“It’s great because teams usually around this time start to struggle a little bit, and I think we’re playing team ball better than we ever have and that’s why we’re getting wins,” Bates said.
