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Coldwater's Owen Kunk (21) stretches to get the ball as Minster's Cole Albers (42) defends during Tuesday's MAC boys basketball contest at the Palace.
COLDWATER - Leading by 10 with just under six minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Minster looked to have finally fended off Coldwater.
The Cavaliers begged to differ.
Coldwater outscored the Wildcats 13-3 the rest of the period to force overtime. Then in the extra session, the Cavaliers took the lead for the first time and won the tug-of-war with a 72-66 victory in Midwest Athletic Conference boys basketball action on Tuesday at the Palace.
The win is the fourth in a row for Coldwater (10-5, 4-2 MAC). Minster drops to 9-7 (4-2 MAC).
Coming back from double digits wasn't new for the Cavaliers on Tuesday. Minster led 22-11 with 4:16 to play in the second quarter after a Brogan Stephey bucket, but the Cavaliers fought back and cut it to 26-25 at the half.
"I thought we didn't shoot the ball terribly well in the first half," said Coldwater coach Nick Fisher, whose squad was 9-of-24 from the field in the first half. "We keep talking defensively, we can be pretty good defensively. At the end of the first half, we had five out of six stops (on Minster possessions)."
Coldwater continued to keep the Wildcats' feet to the fire in the second half, but Minster maintained a lead through the third quarter with a 45-38 lead. At the start of the fourth quarter, Andrew Ketner hit a 3-pointer followed by free throws from Cole McClurg and Kole Richard that made it 52-42 with 5:57 remaining.
Minster's Cole McClurg (1) drives to the basket as Coldwater's Cody Depweg defends during Tuesday's game at the Palace.
The Cavaliers began to make the comeback, as Baylen Blockberger hit a 3-pointer, then after a Wildcat miss, Blockberger got another bucket to trim the margin to 52-47 with four minutes to play in regulation, Nearly two minutes came off the clock with neither team scoring before Brady Lefeld hit two free throws to get the Cavs to within three. A Wildcat turnover resulted in Lefeld knocking down a trey with 1:12 to play to tie the game for the first time since the first quarter, but Stephey got the hoop-and-harm 3-point play with 1:04 to play to make it a three-point game again. Coldwater looked to Blockberger, and the senior didn't falter, hitting another trey with 30 seconds to play to tie the game again. Minster tried looking for Stephey for the game-winner, but an errant pass went out of bounds with seven ticks remaining. Blockberger's trey at the buzzer was off the rim, sending the game into overtime.
"We were thinking about letting (the clock) go down and take the final shot," said Minster coach Mike McClurg. "I thought maybe we should take a timeout, but thought just let them play and get the last one. I wanted Brogan to get his spot and hit a jumper, but he was trying to throw it to Cole (McClurg) and (the ball) got tipped out. (It) is what it is."
Cole Albers got the opening bucket of the extra session to put Minster back in front 57-55, but Blockberger was not to be denied, scoring the tying bucket seconds later. Free throws by Richard put Minster ahead 59-57 with 3:20 to go, but Lefeld gave Coldwater its first lead of the night with 2:51 to play with a 3-pointer to make the score 60-59. Albers put Minster back in front 61-60 with a layup with 2:39 to go, but Mason Welsch tied the game with a free throw with 2:18 to play. Cole McClurg gave Minster its final lead with 2:04 remaining with a free throw, but Blockberger applied the dagger with a 3-pointer with 1:44 to play to make it 64-62 Cavaliers.
"When you're hitting shots, everything goes a little bit easier," said Fisher. "Again, I credit our defense for making stops."
"I thought we gave them way too many open threes," said coach McClurg. "We had a handful of turnovers and gave them too many threes in the fourth. They made a lot of big shots."
After a Minster miss, Blockberger scored again with 1:15 to play to make it a four-point lead. After another Wildcat miss, Owen Kunk hit a free throw to make it 67-62. Cole McClurg snapped the Cav run with a bucket with under a minute to play, but Welsch hit another bucket and Blockberger and Lefeld hit 3-of-4 from the foul line to seal the victory.
Coldwater's Baylen Blockberger (5) tries to get around Minster's Connor Schmiesitng.
"Bay (Blockberger) hit some big shots. Brady had a whale of a game in all aspects with as hard as he was playing," said Fisher.
"I thought we did a good job (on Blockberger) in the first half," said coach McClurg, referring to holding Blockberger to just 10 points. "He came alive at the end of the first half. Then he got going. We didn't have answers."
After going 0-of-11 from the 3-point line in the first three quarters, Coldwater hit 5-of-8 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Blockberger finished his night with 30 points, with 15 coming in the fourth quarter and overtime, and pulled down 13 rebounds. Lefeld added 22 points with Welsch scoring 13.
Albers led Minster with 17 points. Richard and Stephey each added 14 points and Cole McClurg scored 13.
The teams are back in MAC play on Friday. Coldwater travels to Rockford to face Parkway, and Minster makes the short trek north to face New Bremen in the Battle of Route 66.
