The Southern Coffey County Titans are no strangers to playing in close games this season.
So when they found themselves in another tight game against Hartford in a consolation game of the Lyon County League tournament Thursday night at White Auditorium, they didn’t panic. They just made enough plays and won the game 39-37.
“I was telling the kids the other day that we’ve won six games now by a total of 16 points,” SCC coach Brandt Miller said. “So about every game we’ve won has been very close.”
Hartford, though, had an opportunity to win the game at the buzzer. After SCC missed a free throw, the Jaguars got the board and sped down court. But a half-court shot at the buzzer missed and the Titans escaped with the win.
Aaron Ludolph made two free throws with 1:19 to play to give SCC the 39-37 lead. Hartford missed a jump shot on the ensuing possession and SCC missed on its next possession. The Jaguars had another crack at it, but again the ball wouldn’t roll in and Ludolph got the rebound and was fouled with 4.1 seconds to play.
Ludolph missed the front end of the one-and-one but Hartford couldn’t hit the shot it needed to.
“It comes down to making shots,” Hartford coach Patrick Gardner said. “We’re playing good enough defense, but I don’t think we’re rebounding the ball well enough right now. But we are playing good enough defense. But it’s like I keep telling them that we have to make the shot when we’re open.
“That goes for my bigs and that goes for my guys on the outside. It’s not just one guy, it’s a team. It’s a team effort and it’s always a team loss for us, too.”
After playing to a 11-11 tie at the end of the first quarter, SCC outscored Hartford 12-6 in the second despite Ludolph scoring just two in the quarter and Scott Fischer heading to the bench with three fouls in the first quarter.
SCC opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run — Ludolph scoring seven during that stretch — and the Titans led by 13.
Hartford answred with a 7-0 run at the end of the third quarter as Colten Barrett scored five and Ralstin Wilkerson added a layup.
Another Hartford push at the start of the fourth cut the SCC lead to 33-31 with 5:46 to play and the Jaguars took the lead 36-35 on a 3-pointer by Michael Wilson from the top of the key with just less than three minutes to play.