ALLEN — The unfortunate part about Northern Heights’ 73-66 victory over Lyndon on Friday is that most people won’t remember the competitive game, the nine ties and 10 lead changes, the back-and-forth action that dominated the first 31 minutes of the contest.
That’s because it will be hard to recall anything but the final 11 controversial seconds.
The drama began with Heights up 68-66, as Lyndon committed a foul against the Wildcats’ Haydon Parks to stop the clock with 11 seconds remaining.
After both teams substituted players in, an official signaled for a technical foul before Parks’ first free throw.
The ruling was that Lyndon’s Kade Neilson had not checked in properly at the scorer’s table, which meant Heights would be awarded the ball after two additional free throws.
Chaos ensued. Lyndon coach Michael Massey, who argued that Neilson was sitting at the scorer’s table, picked up two consecutive technical fouls and was ejected.
Heights scored five points without any time running off the clock, turning a close game into a 73-66 Heights lead.
“I apologized to the kids about it, but I felt cheated for them,” Massey said. “They came out starting last year and busted their tails for me, and I don’t want them to feel like they got cheated.
“But, I need to do a better job of just keeping my mouth shut.”
For the second straight year, Heights coach Lanny Massey earned bragging rights over his brother.
Still, this one didn’t come easy.
Helped by its strong outside shooting early, Lyndon jumped out to a 32-18 second-quarter lead and looked like it might run the Wildcats out of their own gym.
“I thought if we cut it to 6 or 7 by halftime,” Lanny Massey said, “we’d have a fighting chance.”
His team ended up doing more than that.
Parks contributed a pair of baskets in a 12-0 run, then Levi Hizar hit a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left in the half to cut the Lyndon lead to 34-33.
“At halftime, I told them, ‘Guys, this is your game if you want it,’” Lanny Massey said.
Heights made its move late in the second half.
After falling behind 48-43, Parks contributed two more baskets in an 8-0 spurt that gave Heights a three-point advantage.
The two teams stayed within five points of each other until the controversial 11-second mark.
Parks and Pete Symmonds led Heights with 23 points each. Parks made his first seven shots of the game — going 6-for-6 in the first half — and also added 12 rebounds.
Alex Wendling and Derek Banzhaf paced Lyndon with 18 points each. Wendling hit his final 10 free throws, with eight of those coming in the fourth quarter.
With the victory, Lanny kept his perfect record intact (2-0) against his brother.
“He doesn’t boast about it,” Michael Massey said. “If I ever get a win, I won’t either.”
“When all is said and done, we’re still brothers,” Lanny Massey said. “I could not be any prouder of the energy that his team brought. It’s the kind of game you want to start out the season with.”
Northern Heights boys 73, Lyndon 66
Friday at Allen
Lyndon 13 21 14 18 — 66
NH 13 20 18 22 — 73
Lyndon (0-1) — Derek Banzhaf 7-16 2-4 18, Alex Wendling 4-7 10-12 18, Dylan Filburn 4-7 3-4 14, Shea Kirsop 2-8 3-4 8, Quinton Testerman 3-5 0-2 6, Jeremy Testerman 1-3 0-1 2, Will Whitaker 0-1 0-0 0, Keene Niemack 0-2 0-0 0, Kade Neilson 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 18-27 66.
Northern Heights (1-0) — Haydon Parks 9-11 5-12 23, Pete Symmonds 7-13 9-12 23, Levi Hizar 6-19 1-2 14, Roman Murray 1-8 4-8 6, Kenneth Bronson 1-2 1-5 3, Michael Glass 0-7 2-3 2, David Hanks 1-3 0-1 2, Tyler McClellan 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Swanson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 22-43 73.
3-point goals — Lyndon 6-18 (Filburn 3-4, Banzhaf 2-7, Kirsop 1-5, J. Testerman 0-1, Neilson 0-1); Northern Heights 1-16 (Hizar 1-10, Glass 0-3, Murray 0-3). Rebounds — Lyndon 40 (Wendling 8), Northern Heights 33 (Parks 12). Turnovers — Lyndon 22, Northern Heights 13. Total fouls — Lyndon 26, Northern Heights 24. Fouled out — Lyndon: J. Testerman; Northern Heights: Hanks.
Lyndon girls 52, Northern Heights 40
Lyndon took advantage of 24 Northern Heights turnovers in a 52-40 victory.
The Lady Tigers were especially effective with their full-court pressure defense early. Heights was scored only three points in the first quarter, going 1-for-9 from the floor with 7 turnovers.
“I thought our effort was there,” Heights coach Tim Riemann said. “We just need to do a better job of taking care of the ball and limiting turnovers. Those really killed us.”
Heights trimmed the lead to 39-34 with 5:24 left, but Lyndon’s Chelsea Schmitz responded with a back-breaking 3-pointer from the top of the key.
The shot from Schmitz, who hit 49 percent of her three-point attempts last year, helped the Lady Tigers rebuild their advantage to double digits.
“We do a lot of things to free her up,” Lyndon coach Frank Hart said. “She hit a couple of (threes) to give us a boost.”
Stephanie Goetz led Lyndon with 12 points, while Cara Bolz, Krista Banzhaf and Schmitz all had 11 each. Sarah Boline had team highs in points (10) and rebounds (11) for Heights.
Lyndon had a significant edge on the free-throw line, making 22 of its 32 attempts.
Heights, meanwhile, had just 10 shots and 5 makes from the charity stripe — all coming from Andrea Miller.
Lyndon girls 52, Northern Heights 40
Friday at Allen
Lyndon 9 14 12 17 — 52
NH 3 16 8 13 — 40
Lyndon (1-0) — Stephanie Goetz 3-16 6-6 12, Chelsea Schmitz 4-10 0-0 11, Cara Bolz 1-8 9-12 11, Krista Banzhaf 3-10 4-6 11, Ashley Persinger 2-7 2-5 6, Kayla Schmidt 0-2 1-3 1. Totals 13-53 22-32 52.
Northern Heights (0-1) — Sarah Boline 5-12 0-0 10, Andrea Miller 2-12 5-10 9, Alex DeLong 4-8 0-0 8, Amy Boline 3-5 0-0 6, Amy Lee 2-11 0-0 5, Sky Linsey 1-4 0-0 2, Leann Baird 0-1 0-0 0, Danielle Dreier 0-1 0-0 0, Tess Hobson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-56 5-10 40.
3-point goals — Lyndon 4-18 (Schmitz 3-8, Banzhaf 1-6, Bolz 0-1, Goetz 0-3); Northern Heights 1-9 (Lee 1-6, DeLong 0-1, Hobson 0-1, Linsey 0-1). Rebounds — Lyndon 31 (Goetz, Bolz 9), Northern Heights 37 (S. Boline 11). Turnovers — Lyndon 14, Northern Heights 24. Total fouls — Lyndon 14, Northern Heights 26. Fouled out — Northern Heights: A. Boline, DeLong).