Bremen seniors step up on their night, hold off Culver
BREMEN - This may not have been the most successful season the Bremen High School boys basketball upperclassmen have endured, but Senior Night was certainly memorable.
Led by the offense and defense of Baylor Orcutt and the game-winning bucket from classmate AJ Ton, the Lions held off a fourth-quarter comeback bid from Culver and defeated the Cavaliers, 35-32, at the Lions’ Den Friday night in the final regular season game for both teams.
Bremen led almost the entire first three quarters and held a six-point advantage to start the fourth period before Culver strung together a 7-0 run to take their first lead since 2-0. Orcutt put the Lions back on top though, with a clutch 3-pointer to make it 31-29 with 3:49 left in the game.
Over the next three minutes neither team scored until Culver’s Oliver Morgan matched Orcutt’s triple with one from the corner to put the Cavs back in front, 32-31, and only :31.2 showing on the clock. Bremen turned the ball over on its next possession, but the Cavs returned the favor, and with 20 seconds to play, Bremen called timeout to set up a potential game-winning score.
“The plan was to get Baylor the ball (in the key), then he would turn and rip through to the other side,” said Bremen head coach Matt Miller of the plan. “They took it away, but AJ slipped in and made a heck of a play. The kid’s been unbelievable the last month. I could not be more proud of anyone.”
Ton’s driving basket in traffic, and eighth point of the second half, gave the home team a one-point lead, but there was still 15 seconds remaining. Culver got a nice look on a drive, but the shot came off the iron, then both teams tipped the ball to keep it alive, before it finally ended up in the hands of Bremen’s Camden Hickman, who was fouled. The junior calmly nailed two pressure free throws in the one-and-one situation for a three-point lead and just 7.9 seconds to play.
Culver advanced the ball, then was fouled with 3.9 seconds showing. Not yet in the bonus, the Cavs called timeout to set up one last play for a chance to tie. After the inbounds pass though, Orcutt got his hand on the ball and the ball popped to another Bremen player as the clock ran out.
“We wanted (Orcutt) on the ball to make it hard to inbound,” Miller said of the final side-bounds play. “When we saw it was (Emiliano) Ortiz taking it out, we knew they were going to give it right back to him and Baylor did a good job there to get his hand on it.”
Besides scoring a teamhigh 14 points, Orcutt held Culver’s second-leading scorer, Shane Shuman, to just one basket and five points.
“Shuman is a big cog to what they do,” added Miller. “Baylor used his length, but you’re always worried about foul trouble. He did a good job on ‘D’ though and he hit that huge 3 at the end. He had a good night, a really good night. Baylor was new to the
school just three years ago, but he integrated so seamlessly. I’m just so thankful he ended up at Bremen.”
Joey Pizur was Culver’s leading scorer with 11 points. Ortiz added eight, with six coming in the first quarter.
For next week sectionals, Bremen received the bye in Class 3A Sectional 18 at Knox HS and does not play until Friday, March 3, when it will take on the winner of the Glenn-tippecanoe Valley game. Culver faces Trinity in the opener of Class 1A Sectional 50 hosted by Triton HS on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
• BREMEN 35, CULVER 32 At Bremen CULVER: David Hite 0 0-0 0, Ethan Keller 1 0-0 2, Oliver Morgan 2 1-2 6, Joey Pizur 4 3-6 11, Emiliano Ortiz 3 1-2 8, Ethan Binion 0 0-0 0, Shane Shuman 1 3-6 5. TOTALS: 11 8-16 32. BREMEN: Julian Alvarado 0 0-0 0, Camden Hickman 0 2-3 2, AJ Ton 4 0-1 8, Silas Laidig 2 0-0 5, Tyrus Graverson 1 2-3 4, Aden Hunziker 1 0-0 2, Markel Izaguirre 0 0-2 0, Baylor Orcutt 6 1-1 14. TOTALS: 14 5-10 35. Score by quarters Culver 9 16 22 32 Bremen 10 20 28 35 3-pointers: Bremen 2 (Laidig, Orcutt), Culver 2 (Ortiz, Morgan). Fouls (fouled out): Bremen 13 (none), Culver 14 (none). Records: Bremen 2-20, Culver 10-12 JV score: Bremen 40, Culver 35