By ANDREW FEEBACK
MONROEVILLE – The Bluffton Tigers dug deep and earned a gritty, hard-fought win over the host Heritage Patriots Tuesday night, 53-52.
Trailing by 9 with just over three minutes left, Bluffton ended the game on a 13-3 run, with Max Stoppenhagen scoring the decisive point on a free throw with two seconds remaining.
“I could not be more proud of these guys,” coach Karl Grau said. “We executed when we needed to, we stayed tough, we got stops when we needed to and we got rebounds when we needed to.”
The win sends Bluffton (3-8) on to the semifinal round of the ACAC tournament.
The Tigers trailed by as many as 13 in the second half. In a strange coincidence, Bluffton won its opening game in this event last year by the exact same score after trailing by 13 late against Woodlan.
Heritage (2-8) controlled the opening quarter with hot shooting, hitting four 3-pointers on its way to an 18-8 lead.
Bluffton used a 15-3 run to claw back and go in front, only to see the Patriots drill a couple more from long range to end the first half.
After the Patriots scored the first 6 points of the second half to go up 34-23, Grau took a timeout.
“I got into them, big time,” he said. “I told them they’ve got to quit giving in. At some point you have to stop taking it and fight back. From that point on, we just kept fighting.”
The third quarter ended with the Tigers down 45-34. The Patriots’ Dalton Wasson hit an off-balance shot in the lane to put the home team up 49-40 with 3:25 to play.
Then, the Tigers made their move, and overcame a couple bizarre mistakes from the officiating crew to do it.
A bucket from Andrew Ball and two free throws from Stoppenhagen brought the Tigers within 5.
Wasson split a pair from the line, and it was 50-44.
Carter McConnell, who led all scorers with 20 points, scored underneath and was fouled by Leroy Lepper. It was Lepper’s fifth foul, but he remained in the game even though the scoreboard correctly showed him with five.
McConnell’s free throw missed, but Bluffton came up with the rebound. The Tigers had the ball for about 10 seconds before the buzzer suddenly sounded, with the scorer’s table trying to alert the officials that Lepper had fouled out.
The Patriots were allowed to substitute a new player without penalty, and play resumed.
Harrison Schreiber hit a turnaround 10-footer on the baseline, and Bluffton was within 50-48.
After a Patriot turnover, Ball nailed a 3-pointer from the wing, and the Tigers had a 1-point lead.
They got it back after the Patriots missed, and Stoppenhagen went to the line with 40 seconds to play. He made his first, but missed the second, and the Tigers were whistled for a foul on the rebound.
With the Patriots in the bonus, Wasson hit the front end and then missed the second. But as the Tigers rebounded the miss, the official under the basket blew his whistle and motioned toward the scorer’s table for a Heritage player to check in to the game, something players do all the time between foul shots, but never after the official has handed the ball to the shooter. Then, the official inexplicably awarded Wasson another shot, and he made it to tie the game at 52.
“We control what we can control, and we just let the officials take care of that stuff,” Grau said.
The Tigers played for the last shot, but Stoppenhagen got tangled up near mid-court and had his pocket picked by Dylan Hale, and Stoppenhagen immediately fouled him with 8 seconds left.
Hale, a reserve who hadn’t taken a shot all night, missed the one-and-one, and Stoppenhagen drove to the hoop, drawing a foul with 2.2 on the clock.
He made the first, but missed the second, and Heritage called timeout.
Tucker Jenkins knocked away the Patriots’ inbound attempt, and Bluffton could finally claim victory.
“This is probably one of the bigger wins our team’s had in a long time,” Grau said. “I’m really proud of our guys for how they fought back.”
Stoppenhagen finished with 15 points and Ball added 10.
Wasson led the Patriots with 17 and Luke Saylor chipped in 11.
Bluffton will travel to Woodlan for the semifinal round Friday night. The game will start after the girls game between Woodlan and South Adams.
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BLUFFTON 53, HERITAGE 52
At Heritage High School
BLUFFTON (3-8): Chanceler Baldauf 0-0 0-0 0, Max Stoppenhagen 3-9 8-10 15, Eli Garrett 1-1 0-0 2, Harrison Schreiber 1-4 0-0 2, Sam Baumgartner 1-1 0-0 2, Fletcher Wenger 0-0 2-2 2, Markis Crosbie 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Hunt 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Wenger 0-2 0-0 0, Tucker Jenkins 0-2 0-0 0, Carter McConnell 9-13 2-5 20, Andrew Ball 3-8 3-3 10, Luke Gehrett 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-40 14-19 53.
HERITAGE (2-8): Nyles Knapke 2-7 0-0 6, Kobe Meyer 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Whitman 2-3 0-0 4, Dylan Hale 0-0 0-1 0, Luke Saylor 4-21 3-4 11, Dalton Wasson 5-8 4-6 17, Austin Buuck 1-1 0-0 3, Leroy Lepper 2-2 0-0 4, Adam Whitman 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor Prince 0-0 0-0 0, Trevin Schaffner 0-0 0-0 0, Howard Kaiser 3-5 1-2 7. TOTALS: 19-47 8-13 52.
Bluffton 8 15 11 19 –– 53
Heritage 18 10 17 7 –– 52
Three-point Goals: Bluffton 2-10 (Ball 1-4, Stoppenhagen 1-4, Schreiber 0-1, Hunter Wenger 0-1), Heritage 6-17 (Wasson 3-4, Knapke 2-5, Buuck 1-1, Saylor 0-6, Tanner Whitman 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton 23 (McConnell 8, Jenkins 7, Ball 2, Hunter Wenger 2, Stoppenhagen 2, Garrett 1, Schreiber 1), Heritage 23 (Wasson 6, Saylor 5, Kaiser 3, Tanner Whitman 3, Knapke 3, Hale 2, Meyer 1). Turnovers: Bluffton 13, Heritage 12. Fouls: Bluffton 12, Heritage 15 . Fouled out: Lepper, Kaiser. Technicals: None.
