By Brian Hall
Galena, MO – First impressions aren’t always accurate. Watching the beginning of the game between Blue Eye and Galena, one would believe that it would be a short and uneventful game. At one point the visiting Bulldogs had a 19-point lead on the host Bears.
A joking and relieved Blue Eye head coach, Kyle Turner, said after the game, “We like to keep things exciting!”
It was almost more exciting than his team bargained for, but they held on to win 60-57 in SWCL action. A last-second shot by the Bears heaved from 2/3 court hit the backboard had and rimmed out.
Down four with 1:45 to play, Galena started to make their final push. Coby Sartin hit one of two free throws as a result of a technical foul on a Blue Eye player. Luke Burk hit a jumper in the lane on their next possession. Martin then had a steal and a break away dunk to put the Bears up one at 56-55 at the 0:41 mark. Sartin scored nine points in the game for Galena.
Galena (2-3, 0-1) got the ball back at and Dallas Besperat was fouled with 28.5 on the clock. In the heat of the moment one of the Galena bench players came onto the court and the team was issued a technical foul. Besperat missed the front end of the 1-and-1.
On the Bulldog’s end, Andrew Mitchell stepped to the line to shoot the technical foul shots. He hit both attempts to put his team up one. “I’ve been practicing that shot a lot,” said Mitchell. “It as a little nerve-racking but wasn’t a big deal.”
Blue Eye (4-2, 1-0) retained possession after regaining the lead on the technical foul shots. With the 57-56 lead, they ran the clock down until Galena fouled Mitchell again at the 10-second mark. Mitchell hit one of the two shots to get their lead to two.
The Bears had a chance to tie the game with 4.4 left on the clock as Sartin again went to the line for two shots. He made the second of the two to get the game back to one point.
Blue Eye got the ball inbounds quickly to their sure-handed guard, Ryan Reagan. Reagan was quickly fouled and went to the line to shoot the double bonus. He made both shots to extend the lead to three points (60-57) with 2.1 seconds left in the game.
“I was shaking a little bit,” said Reagan after the game. Reagan scored 16 points on the night.
But Galena wasn’t quite through. Austin Holt was able to get a 65-foot shot off as time expired. It hit the backboard hard and the ball caromed off the front of the rim and out.
Galena had three players score in double figures. Cameron Caulfield and Blake Batson each scored 13 points; Holt had 12 points. Batson also had 9 rebounds.
“We started off really well tonight,” said Coach Turner. “We fell in love with the outside shot and got away from what got us the lead.”
The Bulldogs did come out hot. They connected on five 3- point shots in the first quarter. Mitchell had three of those baskets and Brennan Fairchild scored the other two. Galena had difficulty finding any rhythm and fell behind 13 points by the end of the first quarter.
Galena head coach, Derek Wilson, switched up his defense a bit and started getting good results. Over a four minute stretch of the second quarter, the Bears mad a 13-0 run They whittled a 19 point Blue Eye lead down to eight by halftime and trailed 38-26.
The Bears kept up the pressure in the third quarter. They forced nine Bulldog turnovers and only allowed three baskets from the field. They also dominated the boards in the frame, out rebounding Blue Eye 13-2.
Blue Eye’s leading scorer was Fairchild with a game-high 18 points.
Both teams hit the court again on Tuesday. Galena plays host to Marionville while Blue Eye travels to Cassville.
Galena: 6 22 11 18 —57
Blue Eye: 19 17 9 15–60
Galena: Batson, 13; Besperat, 5; Burk, 5; Caulfield, 13; Holt, 12; Sartin, 9; Stewart, 6
Blue Eye: Alva, 5; Fairchild, 18; Mitchell, 12; Porter, 9; Reagan, 16
