COLONY — Crest head coach Travis Hermreck warned his Lancers that Southern Coffey County had improved a lot from its 71-36 loss against Crest at the season’s start. The message fell on deaf ears.
It took a buzzer-beater from junior Tyson Hermreck to end the game in regulation, and lift Crest past SCC 48-46.
“They hadn’t hit that shot all night,” SCC head coach Jay Applegate said. “The shot they made to win it, hadn’t gone in all night. I thought we did a good job, but the kid just hit the shot.”
On Dec. 6, the Lancers outscored the Titans 28-7 in the first quarter. But not on Monday. SCC’s Wade Gleue evened the score at 8-8 with a 3-pointer, and the Titans took a two-point lead off the put back from Aiden Voorhees.
Crest ended the first quarter on a small 7-2 run, taking a 15-10 lead at the end of the period. But the short lead was a far cry from December’s demolition of the Titans.
“Early on we were just so ramped up,” Coach Hermreck said. “Maybe we were worried about getting ourselves fired up to play, and not thinking about what we are supposed to be doing.”
The Titans connected on a barrage of 3-pointers in the second. First, it was Nathan Borntreger, then back-to-back triples from Brayton Lind capped off a 10-0 SCC run, making the score 22-18 with 4:24 left in the first half.
The Lancers were out scored 20-6 in the second, and the Titans enjoyed a 30-21 lead at the half.
“Our league prepares us for this, and it is nothing against Crest’s league,” Applegate said. “We have been beaten by double digits quite a bit this year, but our kids have been learning to work hard, and minimize as many mistakes as possible.”
With the Lancers facing a disappointing playoff exit, they turned to senior Zack Beckmon. Beckmon scored nine straight points to open the second half, tying the game at 30-30 halfway through the third.
It was a nail-biting moment for SCC at the 2:43 mark after Lind hobbled off with an apparent ankle injury. The Titans had only six players available, and with Lind injured, SCC was down to five. To make matters worse, Borntreger has collected four fouls through three quarters, being a foul away of being down to nearly four players.
Luckily for the Titans, Lind was able to push through the pain and return shortly after sitting on the bench. The two sides exchanged the lead four times in the third, but neither were able to take control, with the score tied at 36-36 heading into the fourth.
Beckmon scored two buckets late in the fourth to give Crest a three-point edge, but the Titans answered. Mitchyl Walters earned a trip to the charity stripe for SCC with less than a minute remaining. Walters hit the first free throw, and missed the second, but the Titans maintained possession after a Lancer foul after the miss.
Lind found Walters in the lane for the easy deuce, tying the game at 46-46 with 31.1 seconds remaining, and forcing a Lancer timeout.
Out of the huddle, Crest controlled the final seconds of the game, searching for the winning look at the rim, but it didn’t come. Finally, somehow, the ball ended in the hands of Tyson, who gave a little shimmy, and shot a right-handed hook that swooshed through the net, beating the buzzer and answering any late Lancer prayers.
“It wasn’t what we drew up,” Coach Hermreck said. “What we drew up, got blown up, and we ran it wrong. But I figured instead of taking a timeout, we would probably get a cleaner look.”
