Bremen wins another NIC thriller
SOUTH BEND — There are no catchy nicknames like the Cardiac Kids or the Last-shot Lions yet, but for the second time this week the Bremen boys basketball team came away with a nail-biting Northern Lakes Conference win.
This time it took overtime to do so as the Lions outlasted South Bend Washington, 52-48, at the Great Western Forum Thursday night.
“This is wearing me out,” said Bremen head coach Matt Miller, whose team defeated Penn Tuesday for the first time since the early 1980s. “We have a ‘special situations’ card and all those plays are gone. I have to start over again with my play card.”
Most of the plays designed - or not - for his son, Carson Miller, were successful as the junior scored a game-high 30 points (12-15 FTS), including 19 of the team’s 28 in the second half and overtime.
“It was a physical game so Carson’s strength came in handy,” said Coach Miller. “He uses his body pretty well inside and put our team on his shoulders a little bit at times. He might have forced some shots, but in a game like this you have to go for it.”
As vital as Miller was to the Bremen offense, it was a timely rebound bucket in OT from Brady Ginter and Marty Manges’ layup after the Lions broke the press that solidified the victory.
“Our offense was on life support,” admitted Coach Miller. “We had no idea if we were going to find anything on offense in overtime. (Ginter’s) basket was huge and then he made a free throw as well.”
Carson Miller’s threepoint play off the jump ball to start the extra session gave the Lions the cushion they would need. A 3 by the Panthers’ Marcus Northern with 38 seconds left cut the lead to its slimmest margin at 50-48, but Bremen was able to knock down 2-of-4 free throws after that while Washington missed its only shot attempt down the stretch.
The score was tied at 14 early in the second quarter before Washington hit three straight 3s and took a 27-24 lead into intermission. Bremen turned up the defensive intensity, especially on the interior, to hold the Panthers to just two third-quarter points. Tony Hardin’s dunk punctuated the 8-2 stanza for the Lions, who regained the lead, 32-29, heading to the fourth period.
“( Hardin’s dunk) was fun, but it was everything I
feared it would be,” Miller said. “We got excited, then they come out and tie the game back up.”
In fact, the final quarter of regulation was tied at 35, 37, 39 and 41. Bremen
turned the ball over with 4.1 seconds showing, but then had a foul to give and used it to thwart any game- winning basket attempt by Washington to force the OT.
Northern led Washington with 21 points and Cortez Redmond added 13.
“It took us a while, but our number one key was dribble containment and we still let (Northern) get to the lane constantly,” Miller said of his team’s defense. “He’s an unbelievable player. Other than that our assignments were pretty good. It was just enough. They had too many offensive rebounds in the first half, but we did much better in the second.”
Hardin was Bremen’s second leading scorer with nine. Three of Ginter’s four points, both of Manges’, and two of Trevor Devine’s five came during the extra time.
Bremen breaks out of conference for its next two games starting with a visit to Bethany Christian Saturday.
• BREMEN 52, SB WASHINGTON 48 At South Bend Bremen 13 24 32 41 52 Washington 12 27 29 41 48 BREMEN: Tony Hardin 4 0-0 9, Zach Czarnecki 0 0-0 0, Dawson Hickman 1 0-0 2, Trevor Devine 1 3-6 5, Brady Ginter 1 2-4 03, Ty Feldman 0 0-0 0, Connor Hundt 0 0-0 0, Marty Manges 1 0-0 2, Carson Miller 9 12-15 30. TOTALS: 17 17-25 52. SB WASHINGTON: Jason Jones 3 0-0 6, Marcus Northern 8 3-4 21, Tyler Davis 2 0-0 6, Ty’shaun Grundy 1 0-0 2, Cortez Redmond 4 5-6 13, Terrence Reid 0 0-0 0, Jason Dockery 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 8-10 48.
3-pointers: Bremen 1 (Hardin), SB Washington 4 (Northern 2, Davis 2). Fouls (fouled out): Bremen 13 (none), SB Washington 22 (Jones). Records: Bremen 5-2 (2-1 NIC), SB Washington 1-5 (1-3 NIC). JV score: SB Washington 50, Bremen 25