ELGIN — Victory eluded Elgin Public-Pope John Friday night as they lost an overtime thriller, 54 to 51.
Freshman Nick Anderson sank the second of two free throws with five seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 45-all.
Then, in overtime, the Cougars — behind five points from Chase Pritchett and four from Rane Vesely — proved to be too much to overcome.
The Cougars held a six-point lead, 51 to 45, with one minute left in overtime.
Wolfpack junior Colton Wright then converted an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to three.
Then, after two Cougar free throws, sophomore Paiton Hoefer made a trey to cut the lead to two with 20 seconds. That’s as close as the Wolfpack (1-1) would get in overtime.
“The kids battled the whole night and everyone stepped up at some point and made crucial plays including Nick’s to send it to overtime,” Coach Michael Becker said. “I told him after the game that there is nothing harder than pressure free throws after you missed the first one and he did a great job of knocking it down to give us a chance.”
For much of the game, Cougar Max Hollmann was nearly unstoppable. Whenever they got the ball to Hollmann inside, he used his 6’5” frame to score. He scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the first half as the Cougars built a 33 to 25 lead.
The Wolfpack regrouped at halftime and got back into the game with a big third quarter. They limited the Cougars to just two points in the quarter.
At the other end of the court, baskets by Blake Henn and Jack Wemhoff plus two free throws by Colton Wright pulled EPPJ to within four points of the lead, 35 to 31. Then, long range sharpshooter Austin Good drained a trey to make the score 35 to 34 entering the fourth quarter.
Wemhoff made two treys in the fourth quarter, the second giving EPPJ their only lead of the second half, 42 to 41. Hollman had two field goals down the stretch, the last coming at 2:50. Setting the stage for Anderson’s big free throw and overtime.
EPPJ was led in scoring by Wright with 13 points, Good had 12. Aside from Hollmann, the Cougars’ Vesely was in double figures with 15 points.
“I was very happy with how the boys came out after halftime. We challenged them in the locker room on the defensive end of the floor and they responded really well. We just can’t come out so flat on that side of the ball like we did to start the game and that falls on me as a coach making sure that everyone is prepared and ready from the start,“ Becker said.
EPPJ (1-1) hosted Neligh-Oakdale Tuesday night (too late for press time). They will be on the road this week with games at Plainview (Friday) and Wausa (Saturday).
Niobrara-Verdigre 54, EPPJ 51 OT
Cougars………………………..13 20 2 10 9 — 54
Wolfpack……………………….12 13 9 11 6 — 51
Wolfpack — Blake Henn 2-3 0-1 4, Jack Wemhoff 3-8 0-0 8, Paiton Hoefer 4-24 0-0 10, Austin Good 4-16 0-0 12, Nick Anderson 1-4 1-2 3, Colton Wright 5-7 3-4 13, Jordan Lindgren 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Hinkle 0-0 1-2 1, Camryn Pelster 0-0 0-0 0. Team totals: 19-62 5-9 51. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 8-34 (Austin Good 4, Paiton Hoefer 2, Jack Wemhoff 2).
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 45 (Nick Anderson 13, Colton Wright 11). Assists — Wolfpack 12 (Jack Wemhoff 4, Nick Anderson 4). Turnovers — 7.
