Connor Ramey
By Mark Ambrogi
For The Republic
EDINBURGH — Edinburgh was in desperate need of an offensive spark in overtime. Lucas Seegers supplied it.
Seegers scored the first two baskets of overtime as the host Lancers pulled away for a 42-31 victory over Tri in a Class A first-round sectional game Wednesday night. Edinburgh (12-12) will face South Decatur (6-18) in Friday night’s second semifinal.
“We struggled throughout the game to score the ball,” Lancers coach Devin Burton said. “The fourth quarter was hard for us. We struggled with some turnovers, and emotions got the best of us. We came into the overtime locked in. Lucas was big. He was cramping and sore. We only played six guys tonight, so I was proud of them for stepping up and getting some buckets.”
Senior Connor Ramey led Edinburgh with 21 points. Seegers had seven of his 11 points in overtime. Rylan Londeree grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
“We go as Connor goes,” Burton said. “He’s playing like a senior that doesn’t want to be done. There’s nobody else I want to have the ball in his hand late in the game than Connor. I trust him completely.”
The game was tied at 27-all at the end of regulation.
The Lancers had five field goals in the first four quarters and matched that with five in the overtime.
“We made an emphasis in overtime to pound the ball in the post and take advantage of Lucas’ ability to score on the block,” said Burton, whose team had previously topped visiting Tri 67-44 Jan. 25. “Lucas really set the tone in overtime.”
The Titans (13-10) shot less than 50% from the line, hitting 15 of 31 attempts. Edinburgh made 20 of 30 free throws.
“I think that is the sectional environment,” Burton said. “There’s a lot of fans in the stands, win or go home. We both struggled to put it in the hole tonight. I’m proud of our guys finding a way to win when we’re not playing our best.”
The Lancers were leading 27-21 before Tri scored the final six points of the fourth quarter, two turnovers leading to quick baskets by the Titans’ Gracen Huffman, who had a team-high 17 points.
Edinburgh scored the game’s first seven points but had to settle for a 14-10 halftime lead. The Lancers led 16-14 after three quarters.
“Some of it was nerves, but give credit to defense,” Burton said. “Tri is a really good defensive team. We talked about about how we had to grind it out. We lost (Avynn Whitaker) this week to injury and lost quite a bit of scoring.”
Whitaker injured his hand after the final regular-season game.
“We had some guys step up in different ways,” Burton said. “That’s what it’s going to take to win a tournament.”
Ramey said they definitely missed Whitaker.
“We had to adjust different ways to play without him and find different ways to get buckets,” Ramey said. “We realize this could be it, so we gave it our all.”
Seegers was motivated.
“We have six seniors and we didn’t want to go home tonight,” Seegers said.
Ramey said they need to value the ball more in the semifinals.
“We don’t need to be sped up as much as we were,” Ramey said. “We need to slow down and take control of the game.”
