Greyhounds edge Indians 64-55

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM - New Ulm Cathedral outscored Sleepy Eye Pubic 22-10 in the fourth quarter and came away with a 64-55 win over the Indians in Tomahawk Conference boy's basketball.

Tom Hazuka, who was held to six first half points, led the Hounds with a game-high 21 points. Post Brandon Golirsch contributed 15 and Luke Schimtz 14.

Josh Hadley led the Indians (1-2) with 16 points. Bryce Belseth finished with 10.

The Indians, who led the entire third quarter by as many as six points, were again bothered by a lack-luster fourth quarter.

"The same thing has happened to us the last two games," said a disappointed Indian coach Scott Hadley. "We are in the game the entire way; get down to the last four minutes of the game and then we quit playing defense. I don't know if it is because we run out of gas or what."

"I think that our defensive pressure the whole game wore them down," commented Hound coach Bailey Blethen. "It think that they got a little tired and they weren't shooting as well with their legs tired."

Jeremy Ibberson's three-ball at the four minute mark of the fourth quarter tied the game at 51-51 despite the fact that Cathedral had turned the ball over 23 times. Cathedral's Billy Schreiber three-point play lifted the Hounds to a 54-51 lead with just over three minutes remaining. It would be a lead that the Hounds would cling to the rest of the way.

Joe Braun's leaner brought the Indians to within 54-53 but Jacob Mertz' hoop jump-started a 5-0 run for a 59-53 lead with 45 seconds left. Josh Hadley's tip-in eight seconds later would be the final points for the Indians as Tom Hazuka buried four free throws in the waning seconds and Mertz sank a charity toss with nine seconds left as the Indians hit only three of 12 field goal attempts.

But the key to the comeback was the scoring of Hazuka who accounted for 10 of his points in that quarter.

"We tried to put him on different spots on the floor because they were playing a (1-3-1) zone," Blethen said. "We tried to get him to start on different spots so that the same guy wasn't covering him. We knew that they were keying on him.":

'What happened in that second half is they started to find their big guys - Goblirsch and Schreiber - inside," said Hadley. "We had to start laying on the inside guys and that opened up the outside for Hazuka."

Cathedral had taken an 11-4 lead midway through the first quarter as Schmitz connected for a trey before Goblirsch banked home a rebound basket. A Schmitz' basket off a steal and another Golbirsch rebound saw the Hounds with that seven point lead.

But the Indians rallied, tying the game at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter and then taking a 14-13 lead on a Hound turnover with 4:39 left in the first half.

"That happened because we did not attack their zone very well," explained Blethen. " We didn't use the ball very well - we did not use pass fake, didn't penetrate. We more or less stood around."

Hazuka's first points of the game, coming on a 3-ball with 3:25 left in the first half,saw Cathedral take an 18-16 lead as the Indians could not get in front of Cathedral despite the work of Hadley who poured in 10 points, all in the final two minutes as the Indians stayed close at 30-28 at the break.

"I thought that our defense worked their tails off the first three quarters," Hadley said. "We worked hard on that zone defense and forced turnovers."

Those nine turnovers by Cathedral allowed the Indians to enjoy a 38-32 cushion on a Riley Jensen jumper as a result of an errant pass.

Sleepy Eye's Jeremy Ibberson and Cathedral's Schmitz exchanged treys as the Hounds remained in striking distance at 45-42 going into the final quarter.

Cathedral dropped the "B" game 47-38. Tyler Jensen led the Indians with 16 while Andy Klinger led CHS with 11.

SLEEPY EYE 11-17-17-10=55

CHS 11-19-12-22=64

SLEEPY EYE (55): Hadley 16, Belseth 10, Braun 9, Ibberson 8, Geschwind 6, Jensen 6.

CHS (64): Hazuka 21, Goblirsch 15, Schmitz 14, Mertz 7, Schreiber 7.