There are close finishes in basketball. There are wild finishes, as well. Gallatin and Princeton boys got both Tuesday night.
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With his back to the defense, Princeton’s Brycen Stark took an in-bounds pass near mid-court with just under five seconds left. He turned into and collided with a Bulldog defender and lost the ball. A mad scramble ensued, and by the time Stark regained possession on the Tiger side of the floor, all he could do was throw up a desperation shot estimated at 38-feet from the basket.
Stark’s shot, which luckily was perfectly lined up with the basket, sailed true and the Tigers escaped with a 59-57 Grand River Conference win on their Senior Night.
The Bulldogs led nearly the entire way, but for two brief periods, including the close. Up by 10 points on two occasions, Gallatin watched its led drop to a single point each time. Princeton gained its first led, 55-53, when Chris Parsons hit a pair of free throws with three minutes remaining.
Justin Miller added a free throw to push the spread to three points, but Colton Selby used his right hand on the left side to hit a chip shot for the Dogs. A steal by Derrick Sprague gave Gallatin a chance at the final shot.
Senior Kale Hefley set the offense and worked the ball to Selby, who hit a layup down the right side over a pair of leaping defenders to give the Bulldogs a 57-56 advantage that wouldn’t hold up.
Gallatin jumped out to the lead in the game with the help of four first-quarter three-pointers, two by Bobby Rhoades and one each from Hefley and Vince Wiley. A long scoreless stretch in the second quarter by the Dogs allowed the Tigers to close to 27-25 at the break.
Selby paced Gallatin with 13 points, including nine in the third period. Rhoades finished with 12, all on treys, and Sprague totaled 11 for the Bulldogs, who fell to 13-9 overall and 5-2 in the conference.
Princeton’s victory helped Hamilton’s boys lock up sole possession of the GRC title after Tuesday night’s Hornet win over Maysville.
GHS vs. Trenton
Vince Wiley provided the spark that helped the Dogs break open a close game against Trenton on Monday. With Gallatin sitting on a four-point lead, the junior guard hit back-to-back three-pointers to send his team on an 8-0 run late in the third quarter that would carry them to a 69-61 non-conference win.
Hefley, who finished with 22 points, hit a coast-to-coast layup and Wiley popped another trey from the corner. Jason Moore, fouled on a made layup, added the free throw to give the Dogs a 49-39 cushion heading into the final eight minutes.
With Rhoades joining the three-point act, and Hefley and Moore provided additional scoring, Gallatin spread the lead off the fourth quarter start. Selby hit one of two free throws to push the lead to 61-45. Sprague pulled down a rebound and stuck the ball back in with 2:20 left to play.
Trenton went on a 10-2 run that cut the gap to 65-59 inside a minute to play but the Dogs were perfect from the foul line down the stretch. Hefley hit all four of his attempts and Adams added a pair of charity tosses to protect the lead.
Adams and Wiley each finished with 11 points, followed by Selby 9, Moore 8, Sprague 5 and Rhoades 3.
The Bulldogs travel to Stanberry on Friday looking for their sixth conference win. They head to Bethany next Monday for a makeup date with the SH Bulldogs.