After the Morrison Mustangs lost the last two games with made shots in the final seconds, they used the free throws on Kaleb Church with 1.4 seconds on the clock to defeat the Oregon Hawks in the second round of the Forreston Holiday Tourney.
Morrison had to put a chaser on Oregon’s Trevor Ottens, after he connected for four three-pointers within the first ten minutes of play. The inside game of Anthony Tenboer and Hunter Hamstra accounted for 16 of the Mustangs’ 28 first-half points to establish a 28-25 half time lead. The offense went stale in the third quarter, scoring only six points and trailing by four entering the final quadrant.
Clinging to a modest lead throughout the fourth period, the Hawks had to commit to fouls to save clock. The Mustangs connected on 8-of-14 free throws to hold the lead throughout the quarter. Oregon lost Ottens and Jerrick Orstad with five fouls each. Skylar Short stepped up by downing a three-pointer with 21.1 seconds, to tie the game, and hit another three with 4.7 seconds, to send the game into overtime.
The Mustangs controlled the overtime action and made 4-of-6 free throws, with the two free throws by Kaleb Church, with only 1.4 seconds remaining to seal the win and erase some of the pain of the previous close game losses. Final score was Morrison 55, Oregon 53.
Morrison 16 – 12 – 6 – 14 – 7 = 55
Oregon 14 – 11 – 13 – 12 – 3 = 53
Scoring: Sitzmore (2,0,3/8); VanZuiden (0,0,0/0); Tenboer (3,0,3/5); Church (5,0,3/4); Hogue (1,3,4/4); Hamstra (5,0,7/11).