Gallatin’s boys hit eight of ten free throws during a 20-point overtime outburst to beat South Harrison, 84-71, and complete a stunning turnaround in Grand River Conference standings from a season ago.
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The Bulldogs, who moved to 15-8 overall and 7-2 in the league with Monday night’s win, earned a share of second place in the conference behind unbeaten Hamilton. If not for a desperate, buzzer-beating three-pointer last week by the Princeton Tigers, the Bulldogs could have finished with a remarkable 8-1 conference mark and a six-game improvement over 2007-08.
Like the preceding girls game, the boys game featured an overtime glitch.
The two teams jumped at center court to open OT. South Harrison controlled the tip and went down for a missed shot. Gallatin controlled the rebound, and with Coach Jeremy Slaughter’s urging, headed back to the basket just vacated by South Harrison.
A referee quickly called time out for a conference and it was determined that the sides were mistakenly switched to begin the overtime. Gallatin was eventually awarded the ball out of bounds and play continued in the right direction.
Gallatin’s 39 points in the final 12 minutes of play nearly doubled South Harrison’s output. After a 19-point fourth quarter, Gallatin rang up 20 points in the four-minute overtime with five different players contributing.
Kale Hefley notched a three-pointer and hit all four shots at the foul line. Bobby Rhoades popped a trey and converted twice from the line. Colton Selby scored twice from the field. Derrick Sprague added a bucket for Gallatin in the extended period.
The lead changed hands six times in the first four minutes of the game after South Harrison took an initial lead. After eight lead changes overall, Hefley hit a running jump with two seconds left to knot the score at 20-20 after eight minutes of action.
Rhoades hit a three-ball to open the second period and Gallatin led all the way, twice by as many as six points.
The second half started much like the first, with five lead swaps in the first four minutes. South Harrison grabbed an early lead but Gallatin got it back with another trey from Rhoades. South Harrison was able to build a seven-point cushion before settling for a 51-45 lead heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
Colton Selby hit a layup through the lane to cut the gap to 53-30. Turnovers squashed two GHS chances to further cut the lead and South Harrison sprinted to a 59-52 cushion.
With three minutes left in regulation, Derrick Sprague hit a putback shot. Hefley picked the pocket of a dribbler and scored to cut the lead to 61-60. TJ Heitz hit the front end of a two-shot foul to make it a two-possession game with 31 seconds showing, but Hefley nailed a shot in the lane to again cut the gap to one bucket.
Andy Darby missed a free throw and Ben Adams rebounded. Rhoades cleared center court with the dribble and maneuvered to the free throw line, where he dished a bounce pass to Sprague on the opposite low post.
Sprague converted to tie the game, then blocked a Danan Knott shot out of bounds with barely any time left. Knott got the ball back on a quick in-bounds play but could not score and the game went into OT.
Sprague finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds. Hefley scored 20 points to go with five steals. Rhoades finished with 17 points on five of seven shooting from the three-point arc.
Selby notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Adams finished with eight points and nine boards. Vince Wiley and Jason Moore contributed three and two points to the GHS total.
The Bulldogs were eight of 16 from three-point range and 16 of 23 from the free throw line over the course of the game.
GHS over Stanberry
Gallatin used a 38-10 second half romp to down Stanberry last Friday night in league action, 65-33.
Adams, Rhoades and Selby topped double figures with 14, 12 and 11 points, respectively.