By RYAN WALKER
The Bluffton boys’ basketball team dropped its fifth straight game of the season against Garrett Saturday night 69-68 in a contest where the Tigers could have really used a win.
On the night before, they lost to Southern Wells after having an 11-point lead at halftime — a win would have put a 2-0 conference band-aid on a 2-4 start to the season. However, the Raiders clawed its way back and won by five.
Add the previous loss to the fact that the 2002 Tigers basketball team was being inducted into the Hall of Fame at halftime, giving the 2022-23 team pressure to have a bounce-back performance. Despite a one-point loss, they did exactly that.
Early on, the Tigers had a tiny one-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Freshman Kaden Grau hit a pair of threes, and Tucker Jenkins added two shots made of his own inside the paint.
Garrett’s Tyler Gater changed the lead just 20 seconds into the second period with a triple to set the tone early and find small separation for the majority of the eight minutes. As the Railroaders held a four-point lead at the 2:44 mark, Eli Garrett and Jenkins traded baskets within 30 seconds of each other. Bluffton’s Hunter Wenger got the last shot to go with 20 seconds left to put his team up by two.
The Tigers found life despite the loss to Southern Wells and a rough start to the season, and it’s what head coach Karl Grau said he challenged his team with.
“There were some things that we were looking for that we wanted to see, and they responded from last night (Friday),” Grau said after the game. “We kind of gave them some things they have to work on, and they have to do a better job at, and they did those things tonight.”
At halftime, the former head coach of the Bluffton Tigers, Wayne Barker, led his 2002 squad onto the court to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Seventeen members lined up across the floor and faced the stands as they were introduced by name.
Athletic Director Steve Thompson handed over the 2022 Hall of Fame class plaque that was read over the speaker by the public address announcer over to Barker, and the team posed for a photo to wrap up the celebration.
The third quarter gave Garrett the advantage, outscoring Bluffton 12 to go up by three to begin the final period. Or, at least, in regulation.
Garret had held the lead until about midway through the fourth quarter when Andrew Hunt hit his third three of the night to go up 45-44. Garrett’s Kyle Smith scored to regain the lead and followed that by scoring two more times in a row.
The Railroaders then began to eat time off the clock, but missed free throws kept the Tigers within striking distance.
After Tyler Gater missed a free throw with 28 seconds left and a three-point lead, Kaden Grau picked up two free throws with 22 seconds.
The Tigers targeted Gater again to foul, who was 50 percent at the line for the night, and continued the trend and went 1 of 2.
With five seconds remaining, coach Grau used a timeout to set up a play in the paint.
Kaden Grau, who had the ball slightly left of the top of the key again, swung the ball around and took a dribble to the left to separate from his defender Luke Coffman.
Flushing to the middle of the paint was Tucker Jenkins, who received the bounce pass from Grau. Jenkins took a dribble with his hand towards the right side of the basket with three defenders looming — one right behind him, another behind both, and the third attempting to swipe the ball away on the front side of Jenkins. The dribble allowed him to get right near the basket and land the ball over the outstretched arms of Garrett’s Konner DeWitt into the basket as the horn sounded to end regulation.
Like the second half, Garrett had a slight edge on Bluffton throughout the period but only by making free throws.
With a two-point lead and 12.6 seconds, the Railroaders had to step up to the free throw line with a chance to ice the game.
The first free throw went in from Drayton Myers, but the second one fell short and had a three-point wiggle room for Bluffton.
With five seconds on the scoreboard, Eli Garrett, deep on the right side of the wing, found an open Sam Baumgartner in the corner, ready to take the potential game-tying shot. Baumgartner, who had been 0-2 on the night, took the shot as he was falling backward as he made the shot that got the home crowd roaring again.
In the second overtime, the first notable action was a huge blow for the Tigers. Jenkins had fouled out of the game with 3:13 left in the game with a team-high 20 points and six rebounds.
“We’ve got to have Tucker on the floor,” Grau said, also mentioning Kaden Grau fouling out beforehand. “But we had other guys that stepped up, and that is what we needed. That goes to show we need everybody, and we need them to stay together. If we do that, we’ve got great opportunities to keep getting better.”
Garrett had a three-point lead with 12 seconds to go before Fletcher Wenger scored on a two-point basket, forcing another foul, this time to Myers.
The score read 69-68, and the Tigers, no matter the outcome of the free throws, would have a chance at its third straight buzzer-beater. Myers, however, missed both attempts, keeping Bluffton down by just one point.
After trying to find space, the Tigers had an open three-point shot in the corner to Eli Garrett, who missed too far wide and resulted in a loss by just one.
The loss was a heartbreaker, but one that had coach Grau’s head high, seeing his team fight through adversity.
“They played their brains out,” he said. “I mean, it was a great high school game. Unfortunately, from a win-and-loss standpoint, we came up on the short end of it, but I cannot be more proud of our guys. They did not quit. They battled, they fought through adversity, they stayed together, and that was fun. I think we grew as a team today.”
When asked if Grau thinks he has confidence that the efforts against Garrett proved they could get out of the much-needed slump?
“Yes,” he said confidently. “You don’t know from a win and loss standpoint, you don’t know, and you don’t control that. But what you can control is your attitude and your effort, and your actions every single night. That’s what they’re looking for, and I was super proud of our guys just not overreacting to negative situations today. They stayed together, they kept fighting, and they weren’t worried about the outcome. That’s what allowed them to play free and play well.”
Bluffton won the junior varsity game 52-27 with Kaleb Green’s team-high 13 points, followed by Ben Maggard’s eight.
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GARRETT 69, BLUFFTON 68
At Bluffton High School
GARRETT (1-7): Kyle Smith 9-16 6-11 25, Luke Coffman 4-6 3-3 11 11, Tyler Gater 3-7 5-9 12, Drayton Myers 3-5 2-6 9, Parker Reed 3-6 0-0 6, Jaxson Robinson 1-4 0-1 2, Konner DeWitt 1-4 0-1 2. TOTALS: 23-46 16-30 69.
BLUFFTON (0-1): Tucker Jenkins 9-12 2-4 20, Hunter Wenger 4-9 3-4 13, Kaden Grau 3-12 4-4 12, Andrew Hunt 4-6 0-0 11, Sam Baumgartner 1-3 3-4 6, Eli Garrett 2-5 0-2 4, Fletcher Wenger 1-6 0-0 2. TOTALS: 23-53 12-18 68.
Garrett 11 16 12 16 8 6 — 69
Bluffton 12 17 7 19 8 5 –– 68
Three-point Goals: Garrett 3-9 (Smith 1-3, Myers 1-3, Gater 1-1, Robinson 0-2), Bluffton 6-20 (Hunt 3-4, Grau 2-9, Baumgarter 1-2, H. Wenger 0-1, F. Wenger 0-3, Garrett 0-1). Rebounds: Garrett 25 (Gater 7, DeWitt 7, Smith 5, Reed 3, Coffman 2), Bluffton 27 (Hunt 6, Jenkin 6, Grau 4, Garrett 4, Baumgartner 3, H. Wnger 3, F. Wenger 1). Turnovers: Garrett 10, Bluffton 0. Fouls: Garrett 14, Bluffton 23. Fouled Out: Bluffton: Jenkins, Grau . Technicals: None.
