By ANDREW FEEBACK
Saturday night’s basketball game between the Bluffton Tigers and Garrett Railroaders came down to three things: free throws, rebounds and turnovers.
The Tigers came up on the short end in all three categories, and dropped a tough one to the visiting Railroaders, 51-47.
Garrett ran its record to 7-1, while Bluffton dropped to 4-2.
Neither team ever had much breathing room in this one; there were six ties and 13 lead changes. Garrett never led by more than six points, while Bluffton’s largest lead was five.
Bluffton having twice as many turnovers and struggling on the boards all night proved costly given how tight the game was.
“Physically, they just whipped us,” coach Craig Teagle said. “Unofficially, we had them for 14 offensive boards, and that’s where a lot of our fouls were. We didn’t execute nearly as well as we needed to.”
After the Railroaders took an early six-point lead, Bluffton surged ahead with a 17-6 run.
Garrett countered with a 12-2 burst for a 30-25 spread before Bluffton scored the last four points of the half.
The Tigers reeled off seven straight early in the second half, all from Kaleb Green, for a 36-32 lead. That was followed by five more lead changes before the quarter ended with Garrett still up one, 41-40.
Nolan Lambert’s three-pointer at the 5:08 mark had Bluffton up 45-43. Garrett’s Isaiah King made two free throws, and Parker Reed’s bucket in the paint put the visitors back in front 47-45.
Marshall Gerber tied the game at 47 with 3:49 to play.
That ended the scoring for Bluffton, and even with the score tied, it felt like the Tigers were swimming upstream the rest of the way.
Garrett took the clock down to 2:26 before King was fouled and made one shot. Gerber was fouled on Bluffton’s next possession, but he missed both of his attempts.
The Railroaders continued to be patient, moving the ball around and forcing the Tigers to put them in the bonus. By the time the Tigers did that, only 19 seconds remained.
A bizarre sequence followed — one the Tigers will probably cringe if they watch the game tape later on.
Carter Coffman, who led Garrett with 18 points, went to the line for two shots. He missed both, but Jake Gonya grabbed the rebound and drew the fifth foul on Green.
Gonya proceeded to miss both shots. But Parker Reed came up with the rebound and was fouled by Griffin Morgan.
Reed then bricked both shots. Incredibly, Gonya spun around Morgan and snared yet another offensive rebound, fouling out Morgan in the process.
His first attempt missed, bringing the streak of missed free throws to seven. He made the second, giving Garrett a 49-47 lead with 16 seconds to play.
Bluffton took a timeout, likely looking to win the game instead of going to overtime, having already lost two players to fouls, and having another with four.
But the play never materialized, with the Tigers turning it over and fouling with less than a second remaining.
“We were coming off a slip ball screen, looking to go with the post, or reverse pivot for the three,” Teagle said. “We just got too deep and didn’t get the ball where we needed it.”
Declan Grieser led the Tigers with 18 points, while Green added 11 and Morgan had eight. Garrett also got 17 from King and eight from Reed.
Teagle felt the combination of turnovers, rebounds and free throws was simply too much for his team to overcome.
“If you look at the big picture, 12 turnovers, 14 o-boards, and we were three of nine from the foul line,” he said. “Take any one of those, and that got us beat. Cut two or three of those down in each area, you win the game. Again, it’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job and get us prepared better for those situations.”
Bluffton will travel to Norwell Saturday night.
The junior varsity game went to Garrett in overtime, 42-37. Gavin Grieser scored 16 points while Abram Gehrett had nine.
Bluffton won the C-team matchup 44-3. Bennett Stoller led the Tigers with 10 points, Rafe Gerber had seven and Andy Baumgartner added five.
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GARRETT 51,
BLUFFTON 47
At Bluffton
GARRETT (7-1): Jakob Hoover 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Reed 2-5 4-6 8, Royce Fuentes 0-0 0-0 0, Ari Hippensteel 0-0 0-0 0, Gabe Armstrong 1-1 0-0 2, Javin Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Coffman 6-14 3-6 18, Dawson Hedges 0-2 0-0 0, Kohen Smith 1-1 1-2 3, Jake Gonya 0-0 3-8 3, Parker Skelly 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Collins 0-0 0-0 0, Isaiah King 5-15 5-6 17. TOTALS: 14-38 16-28 51.
BLUFFTON (4-2): Nolan Lambert 2-5 0-0 6, Cameron Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Marshall Gerber 1-2 0-4 2, Austin Geimer 0-1 0-0 0, Gavin Grieser 0-0 0-0 0, Griffin Morgan 4-6 0-2 8, Declan Grieser 8-11 2-2 18, Ben Maggard 1-1 0-0 2, Kaleb Green 5-8 1-1 11, Jonah Geisel 0-0 0-0 0, Axton Beste 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-34 3-9 47.
Garrett 15 15 11 10 — 51
Bluffton 13 16 11 7 — 47
Three-point Goals: Garrett 5-16 (Coffman 3-8, King 2-7, Reed 0-1), Bluffton 2-7 (Lambert 2-3, Gerber 0-1, Geimer 0-1, Grieser 0-1, Green 0-1). Rebounds: Garrett 22 (King 9, Gonya 7, Reed 4, Hedges 1, Hoover 1), Bluffton 13 (Grieser 6, Green 5, Morgan 1, Lambert 1). Turnovers: Garrett 6, Bluffton 13. Fouls: Garrett 16, Bluffton 23. Fouled out: Hedges, Morgan, Green. Technicals: None.
JV: Garrett 42, Bluffton 37, OT.
C-Team: Bluffton 44, Garrett 3.
