By Colin Altevogt
Staff Writer
FORT
WAYNE â??? The band played songs from the
movie Rocky, the students chanted â??scorrrrrrre-boarrrrrd,â?
and one fan was even seen doing â??the wormâ? to pump up the crowd before the
game. In other words, the hyped atmosphere Jan. 27 epitomized everything a high
school basketball game should be.
With the packed crowd living and dying off every play, Summit
Athletic Conference co-leader Fort Wayne South pulled away from host For Wayne Concordia
Lutheran in the fourth quarter to win, 74-64. The victory keeps the talented
Archers in a tie for first place with Fort Wayne North, which had defeated
South the week before.
Concordia fed off the early excitement from the home crowd.
Stepping up in the absence of injured guard Jason Doerffler, starting guard
Austin Thoms scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Cadets took a 21-14
lead after one.
The Archersâ?? aggressive play hurt them early on as Concordia was
in the bonus just a minute into the second quarter. The Cadets, however,
couldnâ??t take advantage of Southâ??s foul trouble, shooting just 2 of 6 from the
stripe in the second period.
South took advantage of its opponentâ??s offensive woes, holding
the Cadets scoreless for 3:25 during a 13-0 run in the second quarter. But Concordia
bounced back, scoring seven points in the last minute of the half, including a
pair of 3-pointers by bench player Clayton Pusey.
South led 34-33 at intermission, but Concordia had momentum
after Puseyâ??s buzzer-beating three dropped in.
Concordia forward Dan Hartman scored 39 seconds into the third
quarter, regaining the lead for the Cadets. Southâ??s Fred Ford then answered
with a basket on the next possession. And while the Cadets repeatedly cut the
deficit back to a point throughout the second half, they never led again.
When Concordia threatened, the Archers fed the ball into their
leader, junior forward Justin Hairston. The former Fort Wayne Snider starter whoâ??s
committed to Western
Michigan University
scored 16 in the first three quarters before going down with an apparent ankle
injury.
Hairston limped to the locker room under the assistance of team
trainers with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter and the score 51-49 in favor
of South. Yet despite their hobbled star going MIA, the Archers scored the
first six points of the final quarter, stretching its two-point lead to eight.
Concordia senior Justin Goeglein finally scored on a drive,
ending a four-and-a-half minute Cadet drought. But South, playing with a
moderate-sized lead, was content to hold the ball at halfcourt until pressured.
South ran more than a minute off the clock on three different
occasions in the last 10 minutes of play, inciting chants of â??play the game!â?
from the Concordia student section.
With their best player out for the game, the Archers turned to their
secondary standout, Ford. Though he scored just four points, the guardâ??s
evasive dribbling and patient execution of the offense drained gobs of time off
the clock.
Cadet sharpshooter Thoms was able to nail another pair of shots
from behind the arc in the last minute, but Concordia could not draw close
enough to make a run as South was a perfect 7 of 7 from the line in the final
period.
With the victory, South (9-5 overall) moves to 5-1 in the
conference and now will be rooting for their fallen foe. Concordia (8-5, 4-3) plays
North on Feb. 4, and a Cadet win could help the Archers win the conference
title outright.
So what do you think? Share your thoughts in our Boys Basketball forum.
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