Highland basketball teams have good luck Friday

Friday the 13th was not an unlucky night for the Highland basketball teams as they were able to overcome any paraskevidekatriaphobia and win over the Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves while not disappointing fans in the process.

In the girls game, it was all Highland as the Huskies would go up 3-2 early in the game and hold on to their lead the rest of the night. Highland made sure they held WMU back from scoring as they gave up six points to their own 17 in the first quarter.

Highland would only allow another six points to be scored in the second quarter while scoring 15 more of their own to put the score at 32-12 at the half.

Returning from the break, the only point scored for WMU in the third quarter was from a Lauren Jamison free throw.

Highland would force the game into a continuous mode with 1:33 left in the third quarter and would end the frame ahead 51-13.

With the clock running in the fourth quarter Highland would put up another 13 points and WMU scored 10 more to end the game 64-23 in favor of the host team.

Coach Jody Fink says of the winning effort, ?Defensively we came with a little more intensity and played well.

?We controlled the boards much better tonight also. We need to clean up our play on offense in the paint to be able to be a very good team.

?We did a great job of sharing the ball and moving without it to get open. We also did not give the ball away very often and restricted their offensive possessions.?

The boys game would not disappoint fans from both schools as WMU started out with a 2-point shot from starter Bryce Robison, but Highland would answer back scoring two points each from Zack Lasek and Chase Rath when Winfield?s BJ Rodgers would sink a 3-pointer to give the lead back to the Wolves.

Both teams would swap the lead the rest of the first quarter and WMU would end with a 19-8 lead.

The two teams would continue their battle for the lead in the second quarter as Highland would work on closing their deficit by three putting the score at 27-24 WMU at the half.

After the break, Highland would be on fire with both teams still going back and forth with scoring and the third quarter would end with both teams tied at 36 starting the fourth quarter.

Both teams kept the scoring tight in the fourth after WMU would start off with a 5-point run at the beginning before Highland would score two.

Both teams scored another two to tighten the gap to within three in the middle of the fourth.

After a 3-point shot by Jordan Hudson put the Wolves? lead at five, Bill Burton scored a 2-point shot followed by a pair of treys by Trent Lasek which would put Highland up by three.

Winfield?s Jordan Hudson would score another shot from outside the arc in the last 30 seconds to tie the score, forcing the game to go into overtime.

As the crowd on both sides cheered in the extra frame, Hudson would start off with another 3-pointer while Zack Lasek would sink a 2-point shot after the rebound.

Robison would draw the foul with nearly a minute left but would only sink one of two from the charity stripe.

A 2-point shot by Rath would tie the game with less than 30 seconds left in the extra frame. Highland would get their own rebound and Trent Lasek would let the time run down to 1.6 when he went to drive up the lane for the game winning shot drawing the foul.

From the line, he sunk one of two to give the Huskies the lead which was all that was needed as the Wolves couldn?t get possession of the ball again and take it down to the other end of the court, giving Highland the 54-53 win, disappointing WMU fans.

Coach Marcus Hall says the game was a good nail-biter all the way to the end. Reflecting back on the game he says, ?After the game was tied in the third quarter the team hadn?t had a run where they were able to separate.

?I have to give Winfield a lot of credit. They were able to shut us down and move the ball well. Robison was a tough matchup.

?We knew we had time to play some good basketball and not panic or anything. Our guys really dug down on the defensive end to earn the tie.?

After the Huskies would play hard and tie the game, forcing it into overtime, Hall had to rethink what he was going to do.

?The strategy is always different before that point. I should have done something different when things got jammed up. I should have slowed that down and run something.

?Regardless, we went to overtime. Even though Winfield scored first, which is another blemish by us, we were able to string together the stops and then still be patient in a moment when everything is sped up because of the intensity of the game and other factors.

?We are able to slow down and execute to hit some big shots. Trent (Lasek) getting into the lane was huge.?

With Trent getting into the lane, that was all he could do. ?Winfield was in the zone still with a minute left,? Hall says.

?They weren?t coming out and impressing us, so in a tie ballgame, the worst thing we can do is go into overtime with the last shot.

?He actually did a really good job of hitting the guard with the in and out getting to the front of the rim. He had it off the back iron but kept playing and drew the trip to the foul line.

?The last possession was a heart attack waiting to happen. I don?t know if our coverage was exactly perfect, but I was glad the ball kicked off the back iron and away.?

With the win, the team has to still look ahead. ?It?s always a grind,? Hall says. ?We?re always working on our defensive rotations. I didn?t think we did a good job of defending the post tonight.

?Then we got stuck in their zones. They zoned us all four quarters. We maybe only had two or three stretches where we played good ball against it. We need to take that and learn from it.

?Even though there will be nights when things don?t go well, I?m proud of the way the guys ran the close.?

The girls? win gives them an 11-1 record and the boys? win puts them at 10-1 for the season.

They will play in a makeup game from Dec. 16, tonight at Mediapolis starting at 6 p.m. and will travel to Iowa Mennonite tomorrow where the action begins at 6 p.m.