Burlingame coach Creighton Winters knew his team was going to beat Hartford.
Winters took his shot at fortune-telling before Wednesday’s practice, telling his players there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that they would win.
Thanks to Ty Lang and strong free throw shooting down the stretch, the Bearcats delivered on their coach’s premonition with a 56-41 win.
Lang scored the first 16 points for Burlingame and finished with a game-high 23 points. He also had 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the tournament — he scored 17 and had 16 rebounds against Flinthills. The Bearcats made 21-of-30 free throws, including 15-of-21 in the fourth quarter.
Other than Lang, the first half belonged to Hartford. The Jaguars made 6-of-11 shots in the first quarter and finished on a 5-0 run to take a 13-8 lead. Adam Ewy scored the final five points, the first two coming on a layup off a steal and the second on a pull-up 3-pointer with two seconds left.
Ewy started the second quarter just as strong, knocking down a 3-pointer on the wing off a Colten Barrett steal and assist. With the Bearcats concentrating on stopping Ewy, who had scored eight straight points, he found Logan Grieder on a pick and roll for a wide-open jumper.
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