Lions lose last-second NIC heartbreaker on the road
ELKHART — Coming off a win Saturday, Bremen’s boys basketball team fell thisclose to getting a second straight ‘W’ Tuesday night.
Two potential game-winning shots ended up not coming through though, as the Lions fell to Jimtown, 33-32, in Northern Indiana Conference action at Jerry Cook Court.
Down one point with 13.8 seconds to play, the Jimmies missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw situation. Bremen rebounded, but with the Jimmies at only three team fouls, they were able to cut off valuable seconds getting two more fouls as the Lions tried to move the ball up court. Then with 5.9 seconds showing, Julian Alvarado received the ball on the right wing and made a move. His defender - who was trying to foul - fell instead and Alvarado was able to get off a short baseline jumper. The ball seemed to hang on the rim forever, but eventually slipped off the far side of the rim. Baylor Orcutt was there for a last-second put-back and appeared to get fouled, but no call was made and the final buzzer sounded.
“I thought it was in,” said Bremen head coach Matt Miller of Alvarado’s attempt. “It would have been awesome to see Julian see that success too after battling to even play after getting hurt earlier in the game (back, second quarter). It looked like there was a foul on the tap-in so I was disappointed about that (no-call).”
Another key sequence occurred a little over a minute before the final buzzer. Down one, Bremen had the ball with 1:20 left. An open shot misfired, but Alvarado’s offensive rebound kept the possession alive. After a timeout, Bremen missed again seconds later, but Orcutt grabbed the offensive board and was fouled with 18 seconds showing on the clock. It appeared he was fouled on a put-back then too, but the referees ruled the foul was on the floor. So instead of two foul shots, the Lions were inbounding under their own basket and turned it over, setting up the final craziness that ensued from there.
“The kids learned a lot about adversity tonight,” added Miller. “We tired of moral victories, but we did what we could do. One thing we talked about before the game was to win the hustle plays and I know for a fact we did that.”
A 3-pointer just inside the half-court line by Camden Hickman before the halftime buzzer gave the Lions a 17-15 lead at the break. Jimtown promptly nailed a pair of back-toback 3s to start the third quarter and took a 27-24 lead into the fourth frame. The lead reached five at 33-28 before a layup by Orcutt and a steal/layup by Tyrus Graverson with 2:44 to play cut it to what turned out to be the final score.
Orcutt led Bremen in scoring with nine points, Graverson added eight and Hickman seven. Jimtown’s Justin Price (two 3s) was the game’s only double-digit scorer with 10. The Jimmies did not attempt a foul shot until the fourth quarter and missed both attempts.
Bremen’s next game is another NIC contest - Friday at South Bend Riley.
• JIMTOWN 33, BREMEN 32
At Elkhart
BREMEN: Julian Alvarado 2 0-0 5, Camden Hickman 1 4-6 7, AJ Ton 0 0-0 0, Silas Laidig 1 0-0 3, Tyrus Graverson 3 2-4 8, Aden Hunziker 0 0-0 0, Noah Wildauer, Markel Izaguirre 0 0-0 0, Baylor Orcutt 4 0-0 9. TOTALS: 11 6-10 32.
JIMTOWN: Jackson Clopton 2 0-0 5, Justin Price 4 0-0 10, Dylan Cook 1 0-0 2, Gaege Wachs 1 0-0 2, Javen Jackson 2 0-0 4, Branden King 3 0-1 6, Dalton Cook 1 0-0 2, Bishop Williams 1 0-1 2. TOTALS: 15 0-2 33. Score by quarters
Bremen 5 17 24 32
Jimtown 4 15 27 33
3-pointers: Bremen 4 (Alvarado, Hickman, Laidig, Orcutt), Jimtown 3 (Price 2, Clopton). Fouls (fouled out): Bremen 11 (none), Jimtown 13 (none).
Records: Bremen 1-16 (0-8 NIC), Jimtown 4-15 (1-8 NIC).
JV score: Jimtown 34, Bremen 25