The Greene County varsity boys basketball team finished the regular season with a razzle-dazzle 65-62 win in overtime vs the PCM Mustangs in Jefferson Feb. 12. It was the Rams’ second overtime win for the week, taking a win from Roland-Story 64-62 in Story City Tuesday.
The win gave the Rams a .500 season after being 3-8 in early January. The Rams finished 9-7 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. The game was only the third win in Jefferson for the boys; they were 3-7 at home and 7-3 on the road. This campaign was the first time since joining the HOIAC that the Rams swept PCM in basketball.
The Rams scored on their first possession of the game via a Tyler Beger 3-pointer and aside from a very brief time in the third quarter the Rams were ahead the entire game. In the first half they combined excellent ball handing, committing only three turnovers for the half, with 50 percent shooting from the floor and making seven of 18 3-point shots to hold a 34-24 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was a different story, a flashback to late December games, as the Rams committed five turnovers in the first 3:30 of the quarter. The Mustangs grabbed many offensive rebounds and with 3:22 left to play in the quarter they had overcome the 10 point deficit to tie the score at 38. The quarter ended with the Rams up by just two points, 45-43.
The Rams stayed focused and took better care of the ball in the fourth quarter, committing just one turnover to the Mustangs’ three. The Rams were up 58-54 with less than a minute to play when a Mustang 3-point basket made it a one point game. Beger made one of two free throws to make it 59-57, but Mustang junior Luke Greiner made a long bucket with to tie the game at 59 with just two seconds to play.
In the overtime, Max Neese was the first to score, making one of two shots from the free throw line. Trey Tucker made a two for 26 points on the game, but PCM answered with a three to tie the score at 62. Wade Adcock scored two and Beger again went one of two from the line with 10 seconds to play. The Mustangs waited for the last shot, giving the ball to senior Logan Gilman to take a shot from 3-point range, but Gilman missed and the Rams had the win, 65-62. Gilman finished the game at 25 points.
The Rams made a total of nine 3-point baskets of 29 attempts. Tucker made five, Trey Hinote made two, and Beger and Mitchell Gorsuch each made one.
Tucker scored 26 points, Hinote had 12, Adcock, Beger and Neese had seven each, and Gorsuch and Sico Boateng had three each.
For the game they shot at 43 percent from the floor. Had the game been a loss, they would have pointed not only to the seven third quarter turnovers, but also to lackluster free throw shooting. The Rams were eight of 17 from the free throw line for 47 percent, behind their 68.9 percent average. Hinote, whose average is 85.7 percent, made just two of four Friday night.
The Rams begin Class 3A District 15 tournament play Feb. 22 in Harlan against the Carroll Tigers. The Tigers were 7-11 before playing Winterset Friday night, with two more regular season games remaining next week.
