By RICK SPRUNGER
A strong second-half charge propelled the Bluffton Tigers to a 53-47 win over Southwood on Senior Night and the last regular season basketball game.
Trailing 28-19 early in the second half, the Tigers hit Southwood with an 11-0 run to surge into the lead.
Then, down 46-45, Bluffton closed out the Knights with a 9-2 run in the game’s last two minutes to secure the win.
Bluffton improved to 11-11 going into next week’s sectional; Southwood fell to 7-15.
“We did a much better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half,” said Bluffton coach Craig Teagle after the game.
The Tigers had committed 14 turnovers in the first half against an effective 2-2-1 press thrown at them by Southwood.
The Knights continued with the press in the second half but with decidedly different results.
“We pass-faked better, we came to the ball, and we were just more aggressive and less passive,” said Teagle.
The first of Bluffton’s big runs started early in the second quarter with a trio of hoops underneath, the first by Tucker Jenkins and two in a row by Kaleb Green.
That drove Southwood coach Christian Perry to a timeout.
But Cameron Williams rebounded a Bryce Wilcox miss and went coast to coast for a layup that got the Tigers within one point.
Andrew Hunt then stepped up with a dagger, a three-pointer from the right wing that gave Bluffton its first lead of the game, 30-28.
“I was really proud of Andrew Hunt,” said Teagle later. “He had been sick the last two days, and he got worn down in the first half. But he stepped up in the second half and hit that huge three for us and played great defense.”
Not only was Bluffton handling Southwood’s pressure better at that point, it was also limiting the Knights to one-and-done shot opportunities on their end.
The Tigers finished with a crippling 31-16 advantage on the boards to help give themselves an opportunity to win down the stretch.
Bluffton maintained a 36-35 edge heading into the fourth quarter after Declan Grieser canned one of two free throws with 0:01 left in the period.
Kaleb Green inched the lead to 37-35 with another free throw 44 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for Bluffton, Green was not the one fouled. Jenkins was, but Jenkins was slow getting up and had to be helped to the sideline.
Green came off the bench to shoot the free throws while Jenkins retreated to the locker room.
When he re-emerged, he had an ice pack taped to a swollen left ankle, his evening’s work finished.
“We don’t know yet,” said Teagle about Jenkins’ availability for next week. “It looked like he stepped on someone’s foot and turned his ankle.”
Bluffton soldiered on without its wounded warrior and watched Southwood sneak into a 45-44 lead with 3:40 to play on a three-pointer by Maddox Marshall and a 15-footer by Will Winer, who led all scorers with 19 points.
Axton Beste tipped in a Hunt miss, then rifled a three-pointer to put the Tigers up, 49-45, with 1:07 remaining.
Marshall knocked down a pair of free throws to keep Southwood close.
But a charity flip by Williams, a layup by Green, and another free throw by Grieser closed it out.
Things were different in the first half, however, when Bluffton struggled against Southwood pressure.
The Tigers turned the ball over on five of their first six possessions and fell into a quick 8-2 hole.
The turnovers continued to mount in the second quarter, and Southwood increased its margin to nine points on two occasions, first at 19-10 and then at 23-14.
A three-point play by Grieser cut the margin to 23-17 with 0:53 left, and Bluffton got the ball back and played for one shot to end the half.
But Wilcox stepped in front of a pass and fired the ball to Bo Liddick for a layup just ahead of the horn and a 25-17 Southwood halftime edge.
It was then that Bluffton came out with guns blazing in the second half and rallied around the Knights for the win.
The Tigers were 20-for-35 from the field for the game for a red-hot .571 shooting percentage.
“We shot the ball well because we took good shots,” observed Teagle. “Unfortunately, we weren’t so hot from the free throw line.”
Nope. The Tigers were 9-for-20 from there.
Green scored 15 points and Beste and Grieser 13 each to lead Bluffton in scoring. Marshall joined Winer in double figures for Southwood with 14 points.
The Knights were 15-for-42 from the field for a .357 percentage.
Bluffton won the reserve game, 35-30.
Jared Moser scored 10 points, Nolan Lambert and Benjamin Maggard eight apiece, Coleson Teeple three, and Jude Baumgartner, Eli Bertsch, and Easton Blair two each for the Tigers.
BLUFFTON 53, SOUTHWOOD 47
At Bluffton
SOUTHWOOD (7-15): Maddox Marshall 5-11 2-2 14, Will Winer 6-9 7-8 19, Jaret Denney 1-6 0-0 3, Bryce Wilcox 1-12 2-6 4, Dalton Barney 0-0 2-2 2, Bo Liddick 2-4 0-0 5, Caleb Wyatt 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 15-42 13-18 47.
BLUFFTON (11-11): Andrew Hunt 1-3 0-0 3, Cameron Williams 1-2 1-3 3, Tucker Jenkins 3-7 0-2 6, Axton Beste 5-7 0-0 13, Kaleb Green 6-8 3-4 15, Declan Greiser 4-7 5-11 13, Elijah Garrett 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Wenger 0-1 0-0 0. TOTAL: 20-35 9-20 53.
Southwood 12 13 10 12 — 47
Bluffton 6 11 19 17 — 53
Three-point shooting: Southwood 4-11 (Marshall 2-4, Denney 1-2, Wilcox 0-2, Liddick 1-3), Bluffton 4-8 (Hunt 1-3, Williams 0-1, Beste 3-3, Wenger 0-1). Rebounds: Southwood 16 (Wilcox 5), Bluffton 31 (Jenkins 7, Grieser 5). Turnovers: Southwood 11, Bluffton 21. Personal fouls: Southwood 18, Bluffton 15. Fouled out: Barney. Technical fouls: None.
Junior varsity: Bluffton 35, Southwood 30.
