An incredibly loud standing room only Highlander crowd went home disappointed as Webster lost the Regional Championship game in double overtime to the North Marion Huskies 81 to 78 Friday evening.
With the loss, Webster is eliminated from the playoffs and missed a return trip to the State Tournament next week. The Highlanders end a spectacular season with a 19 win, 4 loss record.
The first quarter started out rough for the Highlanders as the Huskies buried several three point shots. At the end of the quarter, Webster trailed 19 to 9.
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If a Most Valuable Player award was given for performance by a Webster player in the playoffs, it would go to Hunter Given, who scored 24, 24, and 26 points in the three games. |
Webster fought back in the second quarter, outscoring North Marion 21 to 17 to trail at halftime by a score of 36 to 30. The second quarter was marred by a controversial call by the obviously confused referees. With 3.2 seconds remaining before halftime, senior Brett Morris committed his third foul. After the foul was called and the play over, the fouled North Marion player, who did not like the foul, retaliated by throwing a punch. When the punch was thrown, Morris was well away from the play. The referees were confused at best at this point, huddled together, and then unbelievably called a double technical foul on both the North Marion player and Morris, giving Morris four fouls just before halftime.
Morris sat on the bench the entire third quarter with his four fouls. Not to be deterred, senior Hunter Given led the Highlanders in a close third quarter. Webster edged the Huskies 20 to 19 in the third quarter, to trail 55 to 50 going into the final stanza.
Webster quickly went down 60 to 50 in the fourth quarter. The Highlanders then went on an unbelievable 15 to 2 run to take the lead at 65 to 62. Morris picked up his fifth and final foul with 1:50 remaining in the quarter. With Morris on the bench for good, Given continued to lead the Highlander attack. With 40 seconds remaining, senior Tyler Anderson in-bounded the ball to a breaking freshman Robbie Cogar, who put Webster ahead with an easy layup at 65 to 62 with less than 30 seconds remaining. After North Marion made a layup, Given then added two free throws to put Webster up 67 to 64.
North Marion then hit a three point shot to tie the game with just seconds remaining. After Webster missed a short shot with 8 seconds remaining, the Huskies then took a last second shot that narrowly missed, sending the game into its first overtime period.
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| Brett Morris goes in for a slam dunk in the second quarter. |
In the first overtime period, Webster held a three point lead on two occasions and had possession of the ball. Costly turnovers allowed the Huskies to stay in the game. Both teams scored five points in the first overtime period, which ended tied at 72. The entire game was played without a functioning scoreboard or clock for the players to look at during the game. It appeared that Given made the game winning shot as time expired in the first overtime period, but the referees waved off the shot, saying that time had expired before the ball left Given's hands.
With Given physically sick and missing part of the second overtime, the Huskies built up a four point lead early in the second overtime period. Webster chipped away at the lead, but the Huskies held on to the 81 to 78 win and a berth in next week's State Tournament in Charleston. North Marion improved to 16 wins, 8 losses on the season.
Given led the Highlander attack with 26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Morris, who played just over 20 minutes of the game's 40 minutes, had 14 points in limited action. He also had 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists, and 2 blocked shots. Davis played a strong second half to finish with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and 1 assist.
Other Webster players on the stat sheet included: Jake Thayer, 7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 blocked shot; Robbie Cogar, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal; Guy Cowger, 4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists; Stephen Cogar, 4 points, 1 steal; Drew Green, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist; and Tyler Anderson, 1 assist.
As a team, Webster made 32 of 62 shots (51%), including 3 of 10 (30%) from three point range. From the free throw line, the team made 11 of 21 shots (51%).
In this reporter's opinion, the fans at the game were the loudest to be heard in the past two seasons, thanks to a huge supporting student fan base who kept the gym rocking all evening. As a fan, this reporter feels privileged to have had the opportunity to watch the Highlanders and all their success the past two years--more than what any fan really deserves. We really hate to see this season end, but wish the graduating players all the best in their future endeavors.
