Outlaws wrap up pre-season hoops with overtime win

The Outlaws fell 53-56 on the road in a tough contest at Douglas on Tuesday, January 7, but bounced back at home on Saturday with a 53-45 overtime win.

On Tuesday, Douglas came out in a 1-3-1 zone and it took the Outlaws a while to adjust. The Trojans scored their first four points of the contest on Outlaws’ turnovers, but then Kale Gardner hit a three-pointer from the baseline to close the gap to 3-4. Very soon the Outlaws found themselves down 5-15. After a timeout Sisters held the Trojans scoreless for the last four minutes of the quarter and went on a 12-0 run, which ended with a long ball from Kieren Labhart with 28 seconds left. At the close of the quarter the Outlaws were on top 17-15.

Sisters had a tough time in the second quarter, with a lot of contested shots in the paint. The Outlaws were held scoreless until Landen Scott scored on a transition layup with 2:30 left in the period. On the flip side, Douglas attacked the board, had seven offensive rebounds, and scored seven of their 11 points off those rebounds. With 1:17 left in the period, Gardner hit a three-pointer off a Garrett Sager assist to knot it up 22-22. The Trojans put up four more points and at the half the Outlaws trailed 22-26.

Sisters would see themselves down by 10 on two different occasions during the final quarter, 43-53, and 45-55. With three minutes left in the game, the Outlaws made a push using an eight-point run to get within two points at 53-55, which took the clock down to 1:04.

Sisters fouled with four seconds left, the Trojans missed both free throws, and the Outlaws had one final chance. After a final timeout, the team got the ball to Scott on the wing for a game-tying three-pointer that unfortunately missed the mark, and the Trojans recorded the three-point victory.

Scott finished with 18 points and six rebounds, Labhart had 12 points and six rebounds, and Gardner finished with 10 points and five assists. William McDonnell added seven points, and Bodie Schar chipped in four.

Coach Chad Rush said, “We knew this was going to be a tough test for us with the travel time, the quality opponent, and the fact that we knew they would play a zone. I thought we were once again able to come back and get into the game after a slow start. This is something that we will need to improve as we head into league play. To give ourselves a chance at the end after trailing the entire second half shows the grittiness of this team.”

On Saturday, the Outlaws battled in a very physical and tight contest against the Burns Hilanders in the final non-league game of the season.

Gardner started the scoring when he grabbed his own rebound for an easy putback basket. The Outlaws were down 3-9 with 3:40 left in the period when Scott found a cutting Sager for a tough contested left-handed lay-up. After another Hilander bucket the Outlaws once again found themselves down by six when Gardner went on a five-point scoring run of his own and cut the Hilander’s lead to one. With 45 seconds left Labhart grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss for a putback and gave the Outlaws a one-point edge. Unfortunately, Burns was fouled and converted two free throws to take a one point lead, 12-13, to close out the quarter.

Sisters got their first score of the quarter when McDonnell found a cutting Oliver Bernhardt for an easy uncontested layup at the 5:25 mark. The Outlaws ended the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 22-18 lead at the half. Sisters got points from Scott on an up-and-under move for an easy layup, Labhart on a transition layup, Gardner on an offensive rebound off his of his own miss and then a putback layup, and Scott with two shots from the foul line.

The Outlaws went up 26-20 in the third, and then the Hilanders went on a run to tie it up 26-26. At the end of the third, Sisters was down by three, 30-33.

It was a wild fourth quarter. Early in the period, Scott hit a nice turn-around jumper in the middle of the key, followed by an offensive rebound and putback from Levi Szesze, which closed the gap to 34-35. Neither team held more than a two-point lead from then on. With just under three minutes left, McDonnell got a great pass from Sager, made the shot and put the Outlaws up by one, 40-39. Sisters regained possession, and Gardner made a spin move, pivoted, and scored the layup to give the Outlaws a three-point edge.

With 53 seconds left the score was tied at 42-42, and the Outlaws had the ball underneath for a baseline out of bounds play. Scott got the ball and took his man off the dribble for the score and a two-point lead. Unfortunately, the Hilanders drove down the lane, made a fake spin move and banked it off the glass for a contested layup to tie the game at 44-44. Neither team was able to score before time expired, and the game went into a four-minute overtime.

Two minutes ticked off the clock before McDonnell hit a long ball from the baseline to give the Outlaws a 47-44 lead. Sager stole the ball on the Highlanders next possession, and dished the ball to Gardner, who dribbled into the key, and passed off to McDonnell, who made a reverse layup under the basket and put the Outlaws on top 49-44.

With just over one minute left, Burns made one of two free throws. The Hilanders were forced to foul, and Scott was perfect from the foul line, going four-for-four, giving Sisters the 53-45 win.

“This was a great way to end our non-league schedule,” said Rush. “We knew this was going to be a tough battle as Burns had just cruised to a home victory over a top 10 league opponent the night before and had only lost two games previously. The team once again showed its grit and determination in overcoming various runs from the Hilanders throughout the game.

“Coming out and dominating the overtime period was great to see that the team had learned from the previous experience where we did not make some crucial plays and saw the victory slip away.”

The Outlaws finished their preseason 7-6 and are ranked No. 20 in 3A as they head into Mountain Valley Conference play. They have a tough league schedule ahead.