Saturday, January 27th, 2024
Redskins rally, win in OT
St. Henry overcomes New Bremen for tough MAC victory
By Tom Haines
Photo by Zachary Hesse/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Aaron Thieman tries to dribble between St. Henry's Logan Link (11) and Carter LaGuire as the Redskins press around mid-court at Redskin Gymnasium on Friday.
ST. HENRY - Down seven midway through the fourth quarter, St. Henry fought its way back into the game and then surged past New Bremen.
The Redskins tied the score with four seconds left and led all the way in overtime, winning 67-64 over the Cardinals in a Midwest Athletic Conference boys basketball game on Friday night at Redskin Gymnasium.
"This senior class knows that St. Henry has not won a MAC title since 2019," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said. "That's too long for this program, so we're really fighting and scrapping, hoping teams that have zeroes next to their names can get one. If we lose tonight, then we're really behind the 8-ball. So hats off to Hayden Boeckman, Caden Bergman, and everybody for their efforts tonight."
Two free throws from Ryland Busse and a layup by Hayden Zeller gave New Bremen (5-10, 1-4 MAC) a 55-48 lead with 4:22 to play, but on the Redskins' next possession, Luke Beyke lofted a cross-court pass to Curtis Puthoff, who knocked down a 3-pointer to bring the deficit back to four.
Evan Bowers added a layup that made it 56-53 with 2:48 left and started a two-minute scoring drought. Jackson Lennartz missed a pair of free throws for the Cardinals, and when St. Henry (11-3, 5-1 MAC) eventually had to foul, Rogan Muether went to the line and hit one before missing the second, with Bergman grabbing the rebound.
All told, New Bremen went 6-for-12 from the line in the fourth.
"We can't look around and hope we make it," Cardinals coach Cory Stephens said. "When we step up to the line, we've got to expect that it's going in. We've got to expect that our preparation's put us in a good situation and we're going to finish."
Muether's free throw still put the Cardinals up by four with 48 seconds to go, but when Bowers put up a three on the other end, Jackson Lennartz fell into him trying to close out and was called for a foul. Bowers hit all three shots to get St. Henry within one.
Muether again split his free throws, and Logan Link came up with the rebound. With the clock running down, Boeckman tried to drive the lane and drew a foul, and he hit both free throws with 3.9 seconds left to tie it up.
Photo by Zachary Hesse/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Rogan Muether takes a shot over St. Henry's Devin Delzeith. For more photos from Friday's games, go to www.dailystandard.com/albums/
After taking the lead in the first quarter, New Bremen led more than 28 minutes before Boeckman hit those two shots.
"We've just got to do the little things to finish games," Stephens said. "That was our emphasis this week, finishing everything, and there were some possessions here and there that if we finish, who knows. But St. Henry's a great team, they're very well-coached, and this is a tough place to play. I felt like our kids stepped up to the challenge, and they battled."
New Bremen's last possession ended with a step out of bounds as time expired, and despite Beyke and Rosenbeck's appeals, the officials didn't put any time back on the clock.
But the Redskins stayed hot at the start of overtime. Bergman scored the first four points in OT to cap a 9-1 run in two minutes over the end of the fourth and overtime.
Zeller tied it up with 1:39 remaining, but Boeckman saved a loose ball and Link found Beyke for a layup on the other end. Bergman hit two more free throws around a Keaton Puthoff basket, and the Cardinals had a last chance to tie.
Jackson Lennartz drove the baseline but missed the layup, and Bowers secured the rebound with 2.6 seconds left. He hit one free throw, and Lennartz's desperation three missed at the buzzer.
"We did what we needed to do, and we gave ourselves a shot to win," Stephens said. "That's what we ask from them every night."
After New Bremen won 35-23 on the boards in regulation, St. Henry got three of the four in OT, with the Cardinals' lone rebound coming off Bowers' miss from the line in the final seconds.
Photo by Zachary Hesse/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Aaron Thieman takes a shot in the lane as St. Henry's Caden Bergman tries to get a hand on it.
St. Henry brought pressure the whole game, forcing 25 turnovers with 15 steals. But Link, one of the MAC leaders in steals, sat nearly the whole second quarter after picking up his third foul, and New Bremen was able to keep the Redskins' offense off balance. They went into halftime shooting 28% from the floor.
"Our offense was not pretty, but the way that we play, our best offense is when our defense is getting stops, tips, steals," Rosenbeck said. "I think we had them down for 55% (shooting) in the first half, and they had seven offensive rebounds, which means, if we didn't turn them over, the ball was getting taken out of bounds, and they set up good defense."
Bowers scored 28 points for St. Henry and Beyke had 18. New Bremen had four players - Thieman (15), Muether (12), Zeller (11) and Puthoff (10) - score in double digits, and Thieman added 10 rebounds.
St. Henry now has won 10 straight games heading into another home game tonight against Wapakoneta.
"I have absolutely loved our practices," Rosenbeck said. "I love going to - it's not work, it's basketball, and I have loved going to basketball every day. It's a testimony to every single one of the guys who dresses for us."
New Bremen went 2-5 in a January gantlet, with their seven opponents averaging 10 wins apiece. The Cardinals now have a week off before hosting New Knoxville in another MAC game.
