MEDORA
Tied at 28-all with 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Medora boys basketball team was able to lock down on defense and force overtime.
Unfortunately for the Hornets, they couldn’t muster any more late-game dramatics as they fell to Springs Valley 35-33 on Saturday night at the Hornets Nest.
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In the first quarter, the Hornets were able to hold the Blackhawks to just two points.
Junior Kam Flynn got off to a strong start by scoring four points, and senior Kirk Stewart added a three-pointer to help the Hornets amass a 9-2 lead after eight minutes of play.
The Hornets were determined on defense from the beginning, as they implemented a three quarter court press before retreating into a two-three zone.
“I thought that our press really slowed them down,” Hornets coach Michael Leitzman said. “I was really happy with our defense, I thought it was great all game. Unfortunately the shots just weren’t falling. Our offense wasn’t able to put up enough in the end.”
In the second quarter, both teams tallied 11 points.
Four different Hornets scored in the second quarter to give their team a 20-13 lead going into the half.
The second half was
a different story for
the Hornets.
In the third quarter they were outscored 9-3, and in the final eight minutes they were outscored 7-6 before overtime.
In the overtime period, the Blackhawks scored five of their seven points from the free-throw line.
The Hornets wouldn’t back down trailing 33-28. With 20.5 seconds left, Stewart hit a layup and was fouled, but missed the and-one opportunity.
The Blackhawks then nailed two free throws after an intentional foul.
With eight seconds left, Flynn nailed a deep three-pointer from the left side of the arc to narrow the deficit to 35-33. The Hornets intentionally fouled again, and the Blackhawks missed both free throws with 2.9 ticks on the clock.
The Hornets got the rebound but couldn’t make the half-court heave to walk away with a win.
“We played some really good basketball teams this week, all three are sectional-level opponents,” Leitzman said. “Unfortunately, we came out one and two at the end. We are going to keep working hard and get better as the season progresses.”
Flynn led the Hornets with 16 points, including three three-point field goals.
On Friday, the Hornets (1-2) will host Tabernacle Christian.