The Ipswich boys' second Lake Region Conference basketball win last week wasn't quite as easy as the Tigers' initial league win over North Central a couple of nights earlier. For one thing it was a December 19 road trip to Langford Area, instead of the comfortable familiarity of the Tiger Den. But Ipswich indeed staved off Langford in overtime on the Lions' own floor by a 55-51 two-possession margin.
Ipswich had led 12-8 after a quarter and enjoyed a narrow 26-25 halftime lead. The Tigers then had a really productive third quarter for a 42-31 edge with three stanzas in the books.
And the visitors appeared to still have things under control early into that final eight-minute span, according to Coach Tyler Severson: "We were up 14 with about three minutes left in the game, just did not finish well." And that opened the door for a furious host-team rally, eventually deadlocking the game at 47-47 to force the OT. And the Lions got the first basket of the OT for what would prove to be their last lead. They indeed scored right away, but Ipswich restored order in a hurry."Ethan Gilbert found Max (Geditz) under the hoop for an easy score for us to tie it," Severson explained. "Will Kadlec was 6-6 from the free throw line in the OT." And the rest was history.
"We shot well from deep. Will and Max scored in bunches and put points on the board," Severson said."Defensively we committed too many fouls. The biggest difference was that we didn’t panic or worry when our fourth-quarter lead went away. The kids were very composed and didn’t shy away at the end."
Will Kadlec indeed led the Tigers (and all scorers for that matter) with 24 points and he included a pair of treys. Yes, Max Geditz was next with 17 points and he featured five treys. Ty Kadlec finished with eight points, one of which was a trey. Also you may credit Ethan Gilbert with six points, both treys. That wrapped up scoring for the Tigers. The hosts were led by Bryce Peterson with 17 counters and Colin Frey was next with 12. Five more Lions got into their scorebook.
Ipswich shot 16-45 from the floor, but 10 of them were those accurate treys. The Tigers added a 13-22 free throw effort. The Lions countered with a 17-54 floor-shot effort that featured three treys and were 14-22 at the line.
Ipswich and Langford Area pretty well neutralized their rebounding efforts as well as the turnover department. That's what you might expect in a close game.
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