It was a cold and rainy outside, but inside the North Daviess High School Gym was on fire for the third place game in the Bobcat of North Daviess County Classic. The Barr-Reeve Vikings looked like they were gonna walk away from this one with an easy win, but the Loogootee Lions had other plans. The Lions made a somewhat miraculous comeback in what was easily the game of the tournament.
RECAP AND HIGHLIGHTS
The game started with a bang as the Vikings came out shooting the lights out from the perimeter and getting basically anything they could want in the paint. The Vikings defense was playing with great intensity and passion as they jumped out to an early lead in the first half. Behind 6’4 combo guard #34 Hagen Knepp, who finished with 20 points, the Vikings were rolling early taking a 32-19 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Loogootee Lions just couldn’t seem to catch a break early on but stayed within striking distance most of the game. They must have had an intense halftime speech by Head Coach Ryan Haywood as they came out of halftime with a renewed energy and passion on defense which led to some easy buckets and transition threes. Fighting through some questionable calls the Lions managed to cut the Vikings lead down to ten at the end of the third.
AND THEN CAME THE 4TH QUARTER…
The Lions employed a 1-2-2 pressure defense and this just completely discombobulated the Vikings offense. Barr-Reeve could not handle the press at all and turned the ball over many times, leading to many easy buckets from 6’4 guard Peyton Bledsoe, who also finished with 20, and the rest of the Lions. Loogoote fought tooth and nail to scrap their way back into this game and took the lead on a last second shot by who other than Peyton Bledsoe. You guys have got to check out the final sequence of events in this game.
Barr-Reeve had a final possession after this amazing step back, and had a great play drawn up but the ball went off of Nick Swartzenruber’s hands out of bounds to seal the game for Loogootee. This was easily the best game of the tournament and we look forward to covering many more Southern Indiana sports in the near future.
Leading Scorers:
Loogootee Leading Scorers –
Bledsoe – 20
Nonte – 11
Parker – 8
Barr-Reeve Leading Scorers –
Knepp – 20
Swartzentruber – 11
Graber – 11
