Cardinals take down Tigers in 2OT
NEW BREMEN — Not one, but two overtimes were needed to decide a winner in a battle of Midwest Athletic Conference unbeatens Friday night as New Bremen knocked off No. 1 Versailles 61-58 in a thrilling contest.
“It was a hard-battled game. I thought it was a great team effort from our guys,” said Cardinals coach Cory Stephens. “It goes from anyone that played in the game, goes to the guys in practice, goes to the JV guys giving us a scout look — it was a great team win all around. It also goes to the coaches. They put in a lot of time.”
The Cardinals came out ready to play, quickly going up 11-4 after a deep 3 by Aaron Thieman.
Near the end of the quarter, Dave Homan made a nice pass to Reece Busse in the paint and Busse put it in to give New Bremen a 16-9 lead after one.
Another strong quarter by the Cardinals gave them a 28-19 lead going into halftime.
Versailles came out in the third quarter ready and quickly cut the New Bremen lead to 28-26 after a driving layup by Jaydon Litten.
But the Cardinals had the answer and didn’t back down from the challenge.
Late in the third, Homan stole the ball near-half court and laid it in with 20 seconds left.
The Tigers responded when Ben Ruhenkamp nailed a 3 from the left corner and Versailles cut the lead to 40-37 entering the fourth.
Nick Alig hit a three from the left wing to push New Bremen’s lead back up to 45-39 and Homan added a free throw to make it a seven-point lead.
Both teams battled back and forth in the physical contest and neither could pull away from the other.
With 1:55 left, Litten drilled a straightaway three to cut the lead to 48-47.
With 35.5 seconds left in regulation, Busse connected on one of two free throws and the Cardinals led by two.
On the other end of the floor, Litten hit a floater in the lane to tie the game at 49.
New Bremen called timeout to draw something up with 13.3 seconds left.
Following the in-bounds, Homan attacked the baseline but was blocked by Connor Stonebraker with 2.9 seconds left.
Versailles had a chance to win it, but the Tigers were called for over and back and the officials declared that time had expired and the fans were treated to free basketball.
In the overtime period, the Cardinals won the tip and Homan made
a nice pass to Nathan Rindler under the rim who laid it up to put New Bremen back out in front.
Versailles’ Noah McEldowney hit a pair of free throws after being fouled by Homan to tie the game back up at 51.
The Tigers would actually take their first lead of the game with 2:19 left in overtime when Litten connected on a pair of free throws and Versailles led 53-51.
Homan then connected on 1-of-2 foul shots and the Cardinals trailed by one.
Then, Homan stole the ball near half-court, and from the ground, made a nice pass to Busse who scored and the Cardinals went back out in front at 54-53.
Later, Homan hit a free throw to regain the lead at 55-54.
Homan proceeded to foul out of the game when he was whistled for a foul on Litten, who made one of two free throws to tie the game.
The Cardinals inbounded the ball with 9.8 seconds left and were unable to get a good look. They settled with Trevor Bergman attempting a three from the right corner that was no good and play continued to a second overtime.
Busse started the second overtime period strong, blocking one of Versailles shots, then scoring on the other end to put the Cardinals up by two.
Alig was called for a foul on Versailles’ McEldowney who proceeded to make both free throws.
With 2:15 left, Bergman rebounded a Versailles’ miss and drove to the hoop and scored to put New Bremen up 5957.
McEldowney then hit one of two free throws on the Tigers’ next possession.
The Cardinals were patient on their next possession, taking 1:20 off the clock and Bergman was fouled with 38.1 seconds left.
Bergman made the fist, but missed the second shot and the Cardinals clung to a 60-58 lead.
The Tigers were unsuccessful on their trip down the floor. Alig rebounded the miss, threw an outlet pass to Bergman who was fouled near half-court with 16.3 seconds left.
Bergman hit his first free throw, but the second attempt went in and out and Versalles took over with 10.1 seconds left.
Versailles inbounded the ball, worked it around and Stonebraker attempted a three from the left wing with Rindler right on him. Stonebraker’s 3 fell short, the Tigers rebounded the miss, but time expired and the Cardinals survived the double overtime thriller.
“Everything was kind of a blur at the end there. We just wanted to make sure 23 [Litten] didn’t get a clean look at the rim,” Stephens said about the final play of the game. “That’s what we were trying to take away. In the timeout we talked about it and we did that.”
New Bremen now sits alone at the top of the MAC standings at 6-0 in the conference.
Homan led all scorers with 19 points.
“You know what you’re going to get out of David every night. He’s just a competitor,” said Stephens. “Whether it’s him scoring buckets or him getting stops and just putting his body on the line every night. That’s what he does for us and that’s what he’s done in his whole career.”