By ANDREW FEEBACK
MONROEVILLE— A conference tournament semifinal barnburner between the visiting Bluffton Tigers and Heritage Patriots ended in heartbreak for the Tigers Friday night as they lost on a shot at the buzzer, 37-35.
It snuffed out an impressive rally by the Tigers (6-6), who trailed by nine at the break after a sloppy second quarter put them in a 24-15 hole.
“I felt like we were our own worst enemy in the first half,” coach Craig Teagle said. “We gave up layups, slips, things we really worked hard on not doing, because our game plan was to make them beat us from the three. We gave up 14 points in the paint in the first half, and you’re not going to win basketball games doing that.”
Bluffton turned it over 11 times before the break, and saw Heritage (5-6) go into the locker room with all the momentum after D’Vontaye Washington tipped in a missed shot just before the buzzer to put the home team up nine.
Teagle stressed to his team the importance of not letting its deficit grow any larger.
“If you can stay within single digits, just battle one possession at a time, you’ll have a chance in the end,” he said. “And we did. We made a nice run, then they made a really good run, but we gave up two critical (offensive boards), one at the end of the half they scored on, one at the end of the game they scored on.”
Bluffton controlled the third quarter, shutting out the Patriots 13-0, holding them to 0-9 from the floor and turning it over just three times. Kaleb Green’s bucket tied the game at 24 and drew a Heritage timeout. Back to back hoops from Tucker Jenkins had Bluffton up 28-24 and drew a second Patriot timeout.
A wild sequence unfolded early in the fourth quarter.
With Bluffton leading by that four-point spread, the Tigers narrowly kept possession after getting on the floor for a loose ball. The Heritage coaching staff and players wanted a travel call on Jenkins and didn’t get it. The Patriots’ Kobe Meyer was then hit with a technical foul when he said something a nearby official didn’t like.
That foul was number five on Meyer, sending him to the sideline for the rest of the game.
Cameron Williams made both free throws to put the Tigers up six, along with keeping possession.
But a quick turnover resulted in a breakaway attempt by the Patriots’ Taurean Brown, and a flagrant foul essentially gave back any momentum the Tigers had gained from the previous play.
Although Brown made just one of his two shots, Bluffton’s next five possessions all ended with a turnover.
“They’re not used to this environment, and they’re not used to battling and fighting like that,” Teagle said. “We haven’t been in a lot of nip and tuck games. We didn’t panic as much as we didn’t play poised enough. We have to be more poised, we have to have someone settle us down on the court. They were having trouble hearing any communication with me. I thought Tucker Jenkins did a good job trying to hear what I was saying and trying to pass it on, but we were still getting one or two guys not getting the message somehow.”
Brown’s bucket in the paint got Heritage back within one, two free throws from Washington put them back in front, and Landon Lybarger’s layup made it 33-30 with three minutes to play.
Jenkins hit a three-pointer to tie the game, then after Washington made two free throws, he made a nice move in the low post to tie it again with 1:29 to play.
The Patriots held the ball until less than a minute remained, then in the final seconds, Lybarger launched a three from the top of the key that missed. Washington tried to tip it in but missed. The ball wound up in the hands of Braden Walter, whose floater in front of the basket as the buzzer sounded gave Heritage the win.
“So many things going on in that possession, and I feel like we made them shoot a tough shot,” Teagle said. “We just didn’t control the ball and come down with it.”
Twenty turnovers came back to bite the Tigers in a game where the shooting percentages were nearly identical for both teams.
Jenkins led all scorers with 16 points while Green had eight.
Washington’s 14 topped the Patriots.
Bluffton will return to action next Friday night with a road trip to Adams Central.
sports@news-banner.com
HERITAGE 37,
BLUFFTON 35
At Heritage
BLUFFTON (6-6): Nolan Lambert 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Hunt 0-2 0-0 0, Elijah Garrett 1-1 0-0 2, Hunter Wenger 0-1 0-0 0, Cameron Williams 2-4 2-2 7, Tucker Jenkins 7-8 0-0 16, Jude Baumgartner 0-0 0-0 0, Axton Beste 1-3 0-0 2, Declan Grieser 0-3 0-0 0, Kaleb Green 3-6 2-2 8, Benjamin Maggard 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-28 4-4 35.
HERITAGE (5-6): Eli Tigulis 0-0 0-0 0, Kobe Meyer 0-1 0-0 0, Cam Rauner 0-0 0-0 0, Landon Lybarger 2-10 0-2 4, Braden Walter 2-4 1-2 5, Lantae Cassel 1-3 0-0 3, D’Vontaye Washington 5-8 4-4 14, Noah Redmon 2-3 0-0 5, Taurean Brown 2-6 1-2 6, Caleb Abbott 0-1 0-0 0, Landri Linder 0-0 0-0 0, Davian Bates 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Taylor 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-36 6-10 37.
Bluffton 10 5 13 7 — 35
Heritage 10 14 0 13 — 37
Three-point FG: Bluffton 3-11 (Jenkins 2-3, Williams 1-3, Hunt 0-2, Wenger 0-1, Grieser 0-1, Beste 0-1), Heritage 3-18 (Brown 2-4, Cassel 1-3, Lybarger 0-7, Walter 0-2, Redmon 0-1, Abbott 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton 23 (Jenkins 7, Hunt 6, Williams 4, Beste 2, Grieser 2, Green 2), Heritage 10 (Washington 5, Lybarger 2, Cassel 1, Meyer 1, Redmon 1). Turnovers: Bluffton 20, Heritage 10. Fouls: Bluffton 11, Heritage 14. Fouled out: Meyer. Technicals: Heritage: Meyer.
