Vikings fall in GPB final

By Todd Lancaster
Washington Times-Herald

January 05, 2009 09:47 am

— ELNORA — It is easy to add the name ‘classic’ to a tournament, however it is games like Saturday’s Graber Post Building championship game that truly makes it that way.
Although No. 4 Barr-Reeve lost 61-58, to 2A No. 16 South Knox in a double-overtime thriller, a pair of buzzer-beating, 3-point bombs from Trey Hughes and Ethan Knepp kept fans glued to their seats for 40 minutes.
“Our goal coming up here was to get to the final game and play with energy on Friday and Saturday night, and we accomplished that,” said B-R coach Bryan Hughes. “We maybe didn’t play as sharp as on Friday night, but you have to give them credit because they had something to do with that. They guard you well and they are big.”
The game was the second 2OT contest in the three years of the tournament and capped off a week that saw North Daviess finish third and Washington Catholic take eighth.
The Vikings came out strong, with Kendall Murphy opening with five of the first seven Viking points. In fact, B-R had five different Vikings score during the 18-12 first quarter, where Hughes had six, Knepp added a trey and Christian Duncheon and Logan Knepp had two each.
The Vikings would extend the lead to 11 in the second after a trey from Hughes and a bucket from Logan Knepp, but South Knox would begin to use the long ball as a weapon.
Josh Schutter drained a pair of 3-pointers, before turning an ankle and having to leave the game. However, Jeremy Lucas would pick up the slack and nail a trey that would cut the lead to just four, 25-21, in a quarter that also saw the Vikings make seven turnovers.
“I think we let our guard down in the second quarter,” said Hughes.
Lucas would become the biggest factor in the third, dialing in for three more treys and 11 total points. He ended the night as the games leading scorer with 27 points and four of the Spartans’ nine 3-pointers. Trey Hughes hit a pair of baskets and Logan Knepp added a putback for the Vikes only buckets of the quarter, going into the final quarter down, 36-34.
SK opened the quarter with a four-point lead after a basket from Lucas, but seven points from Logan Knepp helped keep the Vikings close. Logan Knepp would end the game with 15 points and five rebounds.
Hughes actually pushed the Vikings ahead 43-42 with 2:00 to play, but Lucas would again give the Spartans a 46-43 lead before Hughes tied the game with the trey at :02.5.
Hughes ended up leading the Vikings with 24 points and was the only Viking to score in every quarter and both OTs.
In the first OT, B-R was down 53-50 with just under 20 seconds left, Ethan Knepp was then able to pick up an offensive rebound and drain a trey from the corner with :02 left to send it into the second OT.
“I’m always talking to kids about composure and poise. We hit a couple of big shots to continue the game. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the starts we wanted in either of the overtimes to get the lead,” said Hughes.
The Spartans led throughout the second OT, with Mitchell Patton hitting five of six from the free throw line. Hughes did add a late 3-pointer that cut it 59-58, before SK ended the game 61-58.
After Hughes’ 24 and Logan Knepps’ 15, Ethan Knepp had 10, Murphy had five and Duncheon had four, along with eight boards.
“I liked our effort, especially on the glass,” said Bryan Hughes.
“I give them credit, we tried to run numerous things we have in our system, but just didn’t get a lot of easy looks.”
South Knox was led by Lucas with 27 and Patton with 13.
The Vikings play again in a rescheduled game with North Knox on Tuesday.

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