With a couple of assists, Bauman delivers game-winner

WILLIAMSVILLE — One may be excused for calling a trio of Pontiac Indians the “Killer Bs.” Certainly the fans from New Berlin are willing to lay that moniker on the threesome of Logan Barnett, Henry Brummel and Kerr Bauman.

You see, that group of Indians made the play of the year for Pontiac that gave it a 43-40 victory over the sixth-ranked Pretzels at the IPC-Sangamo Shootout Saturday afternoon.

The three combined for 35 of the Tribe's points, but it was their teamwork on the final play that would earn them the Killer Bs moniker.

Tied at 40-40 with 2.1 seconds left in regulation, it appeared Pontiac would have to go the length of the floor to get to the basket. An unlikely proposition, PTHS head coach Matt Kelley used a timeout to dial up a hopeful game-winner.

“It's a play we work on at the end of practices, a few minutes here or there,” Kelley said. “You don't want to have to use it, but you try it.”

Try it the Indians did. The play was pretty basic — long pass, quick short pass and shot. A problem would have been had New Berlin put a defender on the person throwing the inbound pass because the thrower was not allowed to move. The Pretzels opted to play defense away from the ball.

Barnett, an ace pitcher who will be playing baseball at the next level at Dayton, made the throw — of course it was a strike. Brummell made the catch at the top of the key and tossed it to Bauman, who was standing in front of the Pontiac bench.

Bauman launched a 25-footer that banked through the net as time ran out, giving the Tribe the three-point win.

The Indians, who came into the contest ranked eighth in Class 2A, knew to expect a lot of resistance from the Pretzels, who are the sixth-ranked team in Class 1A. The thing with New Berlin, though, was the tempo it liked to play at, which is rather pedestrian.

Pontiac was able to hit some shots and did a good job limiting the Pretzels. Brummel was en fuego from the perimeter with four 3-pointers and another make from 18 feet. He had 14 points in the first half as the Indians built a 22-11 advantage by the intermission.

That lead grew to 28-11 after a Seth Branscum trey and a trio of free throws from Brummel in the first 1:16 of the third quarter. But Pontiac did not score for another 4:50 in the period.

Meanwhile, the Pretzels were more aggressive on the boards and on defense. They were able to reel off 13 straight points to get back into the game.

PTHS went inside and Barnett had a pair of free throws and a basket and Bauman got a tip-in in the final two minutes as the Tribe held a 34-29 edge going into the fourth quarter.

New Berlin wasn't going away, and with 2:22 to go in regulation, Lucas Bixby scored to give the Pretzels a 39-38 lead.

Riley Weber sank two free throws with 45.1 seconds to go to put PTHS ahead 40-39.

New Berlin worked for a final shot, but Bixby was fouled with 3.4 seconds. Bixby, who made the first to tie it before Kelley called a timeout. The freeze worked as Bixby missed the second toss, but the carom was caught by a teammate, but his foot was on the end line.

Kelley called another timeout to set up the game-winner and the rest is history.

Pontiac went a combined 10½ minutes between scores in two long droughts in the second half. This helped New Berlin make its comeback.

“Part of that is a huge credit to their defense,” Kelley said. “They're a very disciplined team, they don't maker mental mistakes and they force you to take difficult shots. That's why they're ranked so high and have 20 wins already.”

Pontiac (19-6) used just six players in the game as starter Michael Kuska and Drew Wayman were sidelined. Brummel led Pontiac with 19 points and was named the player of the game. Barnett added 9 points with Bauman scoring 7 and Weber adding 5 points. Branscum tallied 3 points.

Kevin Howell paced New Berlin (20-6) with 16 points and Bixby scored 15. Gannon Dodd had 9 points as the trio were the only Pretzels to score in the game.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: With a couple of assists, Kerr Bauman delivers game-winner