It was a wild one

With 1.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Trinity Christian had their hottest shooter at the foul line to attempt two shots that would break a 50-50 tie and possibly end Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's season. But neither attempt was good and H-M-S would eventually prevail, 63-55, in two overtimes to win the Class 1A district quarterfinal game on Feb. 14 in Hartley.

"We survived a wild one," Hawk coach Naet Hoaglund acknowledged. "It wasn't pretty by any means but I'm proud of how our guys persevered when things didn't look very good for us."

Initially things did look promising for the Hawks, who led 15-13 after one quarter and were up four with 4:25 left in the first half. But after Kooper Ebel picked up his third foul, Trinity Christian hit three straight three-pointers to take a 28-23 lead into half time.

"That was a big momentum shift for Trinity Christian as they continued to knock down open threes," Hoaglund noted. "Without Kooper in the game we struggled to create advantages on the offensive end and things became stagnant."

The Tigers kept up their torrid shooting pace in the third quarter to build a 37-26 lead. Looking for something to spark a comeback, the Hawks went to a three-quarter court press and it had some effect.

"Although it didn't really force too many turnovers, I think it made us play with more urgency," Hoaglund noted.

H-M-S finished the quarter with an 8-2 run to pull to within 39-34, and tied the score at 43-43 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. The teams traded leads before Trinity Christian tied the score at 50-50. Having missed a chance to seal the win at the end of regulation, the Tigers then had to rally from a four-point deficit in the first overtime to force a 55-55 tie.

Lance Berends scored the first four points of the second overtime, Ebel made three free throws and the Hawks shut out Trinity Christian to preserve the 63-55 win.

"We had several opportunities in the first overtime to put the game away with free throws but just couldn't make enough of them to extend the lead," Hoaglund said. "In the second OT we were finally able to hit enough to put the game out of reach."

Berends finished with 29 points, 16 rebounds, four blocks and two assists; Ebel had 12 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals; Travis Kamradt scored nine points; Mason Brinkman had seven points, five rebounds and two assists; Keevyn Jacobsma had three points and four rebounds; and Jordan Ortega added three points.

The Hawks had a big advantage at the foul line, converting 21-of-37 attempts compared to 2-of-5 for the Tigers. H-M-S also finished with a 38-22 edge in rebounds.

The Hawks evened their record at 11-11 while Trinity Christian closed out its season at 6-16.