February 22, 2000

Jackets stay on top by nipping North Baltimore

NORTH BALTIMORE -- North Baltimore came back from an 11-point deficit in the last three minutes and did its best to knock New Riegel out of the MAL perch, but Brett Hammer hit a foul shot with no time left on the clock and the Blue Jackets topped the Tigers, 68-67.

New Riegel (16-3 overall, 8-1 MAL) is tied with Calvert for the league lead going into Friday's action. New Riegel is at home against Fremont St. Joseph Friday while Calvert entertains Hopewell-Loudon. North Baltimore falls to 7-12 and 4-6 in the MAL.

North Baltimore's Jeremy Miklovic completed the comeback by tying the game at 67 on two free throws with 22 seconds left. New Riegel missed a shot on the ensuing possession, and North Baltimore got the ball to a wide open Nate Rice, but the Tigers called timeout before Rice could shoot with 1.6 seconds left. Hammer stole the inbounds pass and was fouled with no time left, and sealed the game by hitting the second of the two shots.

The Blue Jackets didn't help themselves at the foul line, where they hit just 9 of 19, but NR did hit 11 3-pointers, including five from Jason Humphrey, four from Corey Gillig and one each from Hammer and Ronnie Shellhammer. Humphrey scored 19 points to lead New Riegel, and Hammer and Gillig scored 14 apiece. Shellhammer added seven. Ben Mathias had nine rebounds, and Humphrey came away with seven boards.

The Tigers outrebounded New Riegel, 38-34, led by 15 rebounds by Miklovic and 10 by Rice. Rice finished the game with 30 points and Miklovic added 20.