The Paton-Churdan boys lost a battle with Glidden-Ralston in Glidden Tuesday night. When the last buzzer on the second overtime sounded, the Wildcats were up 56-53. The last three minutes of the second overtime was the first time the Wildcats had the lead.
The rivals were evenly matched going into the game, with the Rockets averaging 50 points per game and the Wildcats averaging 51.7 points.
The Rockets scored first and had a 7-2 lead after three minutes of play. In the next minute, the Wildcats scored 10 points while the Rockets scored six, and the Rockets’ lead was narrowed to one point, 13-12. The score at the end of one quarter of play was 15-14.
The Rockets were cold for four minutes in the second half, but so were the Wildcats. The Rockets took a one point lead, 23-22, into the locker room at halftime.
The Wildcat defense zoomed in on Rocket lead scorers senior Noah Juergensen (20.6 point average) and sophomore Joe Towers (18.8 point average). At the half, Juergensen had scored only six points and Towers had scored seven.
P-C dominated in the third quarter, building their lead to nine points with two minutes to play in the quarter. They held a 38-31 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
G-R then scored six unanswered points to get to within one with five minutes to play. The Rockets put up five unanswered points and held a 44-39 lead with three minutes to play. They were up 46-42 with two minutes left, but the Wildcats scored the last four points to end regulation time tied at 46.
The Rockets scored two points in the first minute of the overtime and the Wildcats scored two points in the last minute, so when the overtime buzzer sounded, the score was again tied at 48.
In the second overtime the Wildcats put up a 3-pointer to take a 51-48 lead. Both teams scored a field goal in the next minute, leaving the margin still at three points, 53-50. The Wildcats scored another 3-pointer which was answered with a 3-pointer by P-C junior Chase Juergensen. That was the last basket of the game and the final score was 56-53 for G-R.
“It was a tough game to lose!” coach Chris Stimson said. “We had a 7 point lead in the 4th and were unable to close the door. They are a great team that is well coached and we just made too many mental mistakes down the stretch against a team like that… We will continue to work on the fundamental things that we need to have to
become a better team.”
The Wildcats managed to shut out Towers in the second half, but sophomore Jake Berns stepped up and scored 17 points, including three of three free throws. Berns finished the game with 23 points, well ahead of his 12 point average. He was five of five at the line for the game. Towers finished with seven points.
Noah Juergensen finished with 14 points, Chase Juergensen scored seven and sophomore Charlie Minnehan scored two. Noah Juergensen had 10 rebounds and four blocks. Towers had five rebounds. Turnovers were high for the Rockets at 20 for the game; 14 of them were counted as steals on the Wildcats’ stats.
P-C made it to the free throw line 13 times in the game and made 11 for 13 (84.6 percent). G-R was at the line just four times and made two of them.
G-R’s Cameron Carroll more than doubled his average of 9 points with 19 points against the Rockets. Noah Borkowski scored 14 points.
The Rockets are now 5-1 in the Rolling Valley Activities Conference and overall, while the Wildcats are 5-2 in the RVAC ad overall.
