WACO wins wild one over Van Buren County

KEOSAUQUA - The WACO and Van Buren County boys basketball teams met up for an post-postseason regular season makeup game on Tuesday night, and that wasn't even the wackiest part of the game. Instead, it was the contest's glutton for point swings, as WACO pulled out a thrilling 51-50 victory.

WACO's Simeon Reichenbach was the hero. The sophomore hit two free throws with five seconds left to win the game for the visiting Warriors.

Van Buren County dominated the first eight minutes. Van Buren held WACO to just four points in the first quarter and opened up a double-digit lead, at 16-4 after one period. WACO responded with a huge second quarter, outscoring Van Buren 21-10 to cut the lead to 26-25 at the break.

WACO took a 38-34 lead into the final quarter, but Van Buren County stormed back to take the lead again.

WACO's Hunter Hughes hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to give WACO a two-point lead. Van Buren County's Jackson Manning converted on a 3-point play on the other end to put his team back up by one point, but Reichenback was fouled in the final ticks and hit both clutch free throws.

Vincent Jones led WACO with 14 points. Reichenbach and Hughes each scored 12.

WACO finished its season 5-18 overall and 2-13 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference South Division. Van Buren went 0-15 overall and 0-11 in conference play.