BOYS BB: Logan's upset bid vs. No. 9 Oak Hill falls just short

Feb. 17—The Logansport boys basketball team put together a strong upset bid against Class 3A No. 9 Oak Hill Thursday night.

The Berries made 11 3-pointers at a 55% clip and had five different players make a 3. But the one box they left unchecked in their upset attempt was making free throws, where they shot just 7-of-13 (54%).

The Berries (7-14) went in with a game plan to slow the game down against the Golden Eagles (17-2). The plan almost worked to perfection as it was close throughout.

The Berries jumped out to a 16-9 after one quarter before the Golden Eagles responded with a strong second quarter to take a 27-22 lead at halftime. The Berries shot just 3-of-9 from the foul line in the first half which included a missed front end.

Matthew Strange hit a 3 at the buzzer to give the Golden Eagles a 41-33 lead entering the fourth. The Berries chipped away at the lead in the final stanza. An Isaac Russell basket got them to within 45-43 with 2:50 to go. Jacob Taylor had a chance to give the Berries the lead but his 3-point shot was just off the mark.

Grant Elzinga hit two free throws in the one-and-bonus with 1:12 left for his first points of the game to give Oak Hill a 47-43 lead. Following another missed 3 by the Berries, Elzinga stole an inbounds pass and fed Landon Biegel for a score in transition to make it 49-43 with 30 seconds to go. Taylor answered with a 3 to make it a one-possession game with 9.5 seconds left. Following a timeout, Levi Trexler threw a long inbounds pass to Caleb Kroll for a layup to give the Golden Eagles a five-point lead and all but end it. The Berries missed from 3 on the final shot of the game.

Biegel, who averages over 24 ppg, finished with 23 on the night to lead Oak Hill. The 6-foot-5 senior now has 1,509 points for his career.

Kroll and Trexler added seven points apiece. Strange had six. Ty Fagan, a 6-7 junior, added six points and five rebounds.

Russell had 17 points to lead the Berries. He was 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range (71%).

Jeremiah Miller and Cooper Smith added eight points apiece. Taylor had six points and five boards. Izak Mock added four points and Chrisanthony Del Valle chipped in a 3-pointer.

"We talked about it, if we play the game that we need to play, we'll be right there at the end of the game," Logansport coach Matt Lange said. "We were right there. It just didn't fall. We didn't get what we wanted. It happens. I thought we played an excellent game, especially on the offensive end. I thought we moved the ball. We did what we were supposed to do. Most people wouldn't like the way we played. We took opportunities that were given to us and we made the best of them."

The Berries had a strong bounce-back effort from Saturday's blowout loss at Richmond.

"It was just a tough weekend. I thought we played well against Anderson after the first three minutes of the game and then to travel all the way over to Richmond and get off the bus after a two-hour and 45-minute drive, I hoped they would play better than that," Lange said. "But sometimes that's what happens. I challenged them this week and they stepped up and played a very good game tonight and we're going to challenge them again and hopefully they can play a good game on Tuesday and next Friday and get ready for sectional."

The Golden Eagles were coming off a 66-49 win at Class 2A No. 10 Tipton on Tuesday. They were over a 20-point favorite going into the game at Logansport on John Harrell's website.

"We've been talking about, guys, this is a very, very good team," Lange said. "I thought we rose to the challenge and we did what we needed to do to be with them when 31 1/2 minutes came out and that's what happened to us. We were right there, we just couldn't finish."

The Berries shot a better percentage from the 3-point line than the foul line for the game.

"Honestly the free throws are what hurt us," Lange said. "We shoot better from the free-throw line it's probably a different outcome, we're probably holding the lead down the stretch. We talk about how important free throws are and we shoot a lot of free throws at practice, sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. We've been 14-for-14 at the line this year, then in the first half we were 3-of-9 from the free throw line, so that really hurts. It's a game where it's a three-point game until they score at the very end because we gamble, you add five or six free throws and we're up a couple points."

Russell stepped up and played his best game in awhile. Miller also played well off the bench. The Berries played just six players on the night.

"Isaac played very, very well. His shot came through tonight," Lange said. "I thought Jeremiah came in and played very well, took care of the ball like we needed, played good on defense. Jeremiah's a very headsy player, so we expect that out of him more than we're surprised by it when he comes in. He kind of rights the ship if you want to say and makes everybody calm. So he does a very good job."

The game was originally scheduled to be played on Feb. 4 but was pushed back due to girls basketball sectionals. Oak Hill coach Kevin Renbarger thought his team had a letdown after Tuesday's big win at Tipton.

"We were awfully sluggish primarily on the offensive end of the floor," Renbarger said. "We just didn't execute the way that we normally do. But you're going to have to rely on your defense. Hand it to Logansport, they executed very well on the offensive end of the floor against our matchup and hit some big shots. Every time they needed a shot they would run lots and lots of time off that clock and then get a shot and so you've got to hand it to their coaching staff and their players for being very well prepared this evening."

The Golden Eagles are in line to win the Central Indiana Conference title outright and will be a top contender at the Peru Sectional, where No. 3 Norwell will be the favorite. Peru and Maconaquah will also be top contenders.

"We've had a nice season," Renbarger said. "We won our county. We're going to go back home tomorrow, we've been on an NBA, West Coast road swing. We played at Tipton which is about 45 minutes away from our home gym Tuesday night, then tonight we're close to 50 minutes away from our home gym, then we've got to go back and play a conference game tomorrow night. And that conference game is going to be for the CIC championship. So it's a big week. The kids have responded obviously pulling this one out when we weren't at our best. You could just tell the game Tuesday night took a lot out of them and we're not a deep basketball team. But it's something you're going to face at the sectional and it's good preparation for us going into sectional."

Biegel is a Huntington University commit and Indiana All-Star candidate.

"He's definitely a candidate. He just surpassed Jarrad Odle for the all-time leading scorer in Oak Hill basketball history," Renbarger said. "We like his chances. I hope that he has a solid chance. We tried to get his name out there. I think he would be a great representative."

Renbarger added he wasn't surprised to get a big challenge from Logansport.

"I've been around Oak Hill for 25 years and we're a stone's throw away from Marion. We used to play Marion all the time, they're a huge rival to us," he said. "So getting the kids to understand that a 7-12 record from an NCC school does not match a 7-12 record on our level. They're bigger, faster, stronger than we were and that showed in some aspects tonight, you're not going to turn them over like you do some of the schools that we do, but I was impressed, this team has improved immensely from last year."

The IHSAA State Tournament Pairings Show is at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Logan hosts Culver on Tuesday night for senior night and will honor seniors Mock, Miller, Aaron Bau and Grayson Long.