Hawks scrap past Lions in OT

 

January 10, 2019

John Hamilton

RYAN TO THE RIM - Ryan Schraeder goes up for a shot during the Hawks' 59-53 win over Eureka Saturday in Thompson Falls.

Now you see it. Now you don't. Now you see it again...

After dominating most of the way, the Thompson Falls Blue Hawk boys played peekaboo with the lead at the end before finally coming back to see through to a 59-53 win over District 7B rival in overtime at TFHS Saturday night.

The Hawks led the visiting Lions 40-23 at one point early in the fourth quarter before the Lions charged back to make things interesting in the game's final minutes and on into overtime.

Thompson Falls had several opportunities to put the game away down the stretch at the free throw line but connected on only one of nine charity tosses in the fourth quarter while Eureka's players suddenly found their shooting eye in the late going.

After Eureka scored a two-pointer to tie the game at 45-45 with only 7.6 seconds left, the Hawks had one last chance to win in regulation. Freshman Nathan Schraeder got a shot off but missed and Grant Lundberg rebounded and just missed the putback as the clock expired to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Eureka sandwiched 3-pointers by AJ Pacella and Jake Kindel around a two-pointer by Lundberg to give the Lions a 51-47 lead and Eureka still led 53-49 before the Hawks staged one last comeback.

Hawk junior Ethan Brown started the final push to victory with a two-pointer to draw the Hawks within two at 53-51 and then, after Eureka's Austin Sartori missed a pair of free throws, Lundberg scored an old-fashioned 3-pointer (a two-point bucket with a foul and a made free throw tacked on) to put the Hawks ahead 54-53 with 1:07 left in overtime.

Nathan Schraeder converted three of four free throws, and Cody Burk and Lundberg each made one of two after that to produce the final scoring in the Hawks' 59-53 win.

Lundberg finished the game with 25 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and two blocked shots to lead the Hawks, Schraeder added 10 points and four boards, Riley Riffle eight points and six rebounds, Ryan Schraeder five points, eight rebounds and five steals, Burk five points and eight more rebounds, and Brown and Nate Wilhite two points each. Wilhite also grabbed three steals.

Pacella and Kindel led Eureka with 17 and 13 points each, respectively.

In other action last week, the Hawks hosted powerful Loyola and lost 71-37 to the No. 2 ranked Class B team in the state.

Lundberg scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds and two steals in Missoula, Burk added eight points and three rebounds, Brown six points, Nathan Schraeder and Burk five apiece, and Ryan Schraeder and Wilhite two points apiece.

Charles Burns led Loyola with 15 points, Jack Lincoln scored 14, Cooper Waters 12 and Jacob Hollenback 10 as the Rams had 11 different players score.

Coach Jake Mickelson and his Hawks have two more challenging Western B tests coming up this week, visiting No. 1 ranked Bigfork Thursday before coming home to host an equally dangerous Deer Lodge Warden team Saturday.

Deer Lodge reportedly upset Bigfork in Deer Lodge Saturday, handing the top-ranked Vikings their first loss of the season.

The Hawks will also play next Tuesday in a non-conference game at Noxon.

 

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