Stryker Gill
HOPE — Hauser and Edinburgh fans got their money’s worth Friday night.
It took an extra session to decide this Mid-Hoosier Conference boys basketball matchup. In overtime, it was a 3-pointer from Stryker Gill with 1:48 left to give the Jets the lead and a 67-66 overtime upset win over the Class No. 5 Lancers.
In the final seconds of regulation tied at 59-59, Keegan Smith had a chance to give the Lancers the lead at the line with 17 seconds left but missed both free throws. The Jets attempt was off just before the buzzer to force overtime.
In the overtime period, a 3-pointer from Gavin Keller tied the game at 62-62, setting up the Stryker go-ahead shot.
“The word we talked about at halftime was ‘toughness.’ If you want to beat a team like Edinburgh, you‘ve got to get tougher,” Hauser coach Trent Moorhead said. “We’ve got so many young guys figuring out what that means, and it was shown and exemplified that whole second half.”
A big difference in the game down the stretch was free throws. Edinburgh converted only 3 of 10 foul shots down the final minutes of regulation and overtime. They also blew a double-digit lead at halftime.
“When you go like that in fourth quarter and overtime, unfortunately, you don’t deserve to win the game,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “It wasn’t just one guy that missed them, we had four different guys in that fourth quarter or overtime. When you go 3 for 10 and lose the game by one, there’s a lot of things you can do to pinpoint. It’s one that we need to be better at. We do them all the time. We need some guys to step and make tough shots in tough situations.”
Both teams pushed the tempo to start the game. Hauser (3-2, 1-0) jumped out on Edinburgh (4-2, 1-2) 10-5, but the Lancers found their stride out on the perimeter by knocking down four 3-pointers to close out the first quarter to take a 17-16 first quarter lead.
Edinburgh grew the lead to double digits by hitting a couple more 3-pointers, and by getting to the free throw line to go on an 11-0 run to lead 28-16. The Jets stopped the run with a 3 from Ledger Gelfius to spark a 7-3 run. However, Connor Ramey scored in the lane in the final few seconds to give the Lancers a 33-23 halftime lead.
After Caleb Dewey gave Edinburgh a 35-23 lead, Hauser then went on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 35-34 to themselves back into the fight to earn the win.
For Hauser, the trio of Gelfius, Gill and Owen McIntyre all finished with 15 points apiece.
“I can’t say enough about the job that we did across the board,” Moorhead said. “We’ve got great senior leadership from Owen McIntyre hitting big shots and making free throws when we need them. We’ve got multiple guys in double-digit scoring, and even having Ledger Gelfius and Alex Cord play their butts off the whole game, then fouling out at the end of the game and overtime, and we still have guys like Gavin Keller, Kameron Blair and Taeshaun Tungate coming off the bench and scoring nine. Guys were stepping up. It was a total team effort tonight.”
For Edinburgh, Caleb Dewey finished with a game-high 26 points, Connor Ramey finished with 14 and Jarrett Turner added 12, all coming behind the arc.
“When adversity hits, we didn’t handle it very well, and that’s obviously something we need to get better at,” Witty said. “Anytime when you go on the road, it’s going to be difficult. I felt like we self-destruct more than necessary.”
Hauser (3-2, 1-0): Alex Cord 1 2-3 4, Ledger Gelfius 4 4-6 15, Stryker Gill 6 0-2 15; Jake Barriger 2 0-0 4, Owen McIntyre 4 5-7 15, Taeshaun Tungate 3 1-1 9, Gavin Keller 1 2-2 5, Kameron Blair 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 12-19 67.
3 point field goals: Edinburgh 9 (Turner 4, Brockman 2, Dewey 2, Ramey); Hauser 10 (Gelfius 3, Gill 3, Tungate 2, Keller, McIntyre).
