Late free-throw shooting delivers Knights past Ellsworth

Source: The Salina Journal, Kan.文件倉Jan. 18--ELLSWORTH -- Brooks Brown had every reason to feel nervous when he stepped to the free-throw line in the final minute with Sacred Heart's boys clinging desperately to a three-point lead.His four straight misses from the line in the third quarter were just one reason the Knights were in a predicament at all.But Brown shook off any nerves, stepped to the line and calmly knocked down three of his four attempts in the last 35 seconds Friday night and the Knights went 6 for 8 as a team in the final quarter to escape with a 56-53 North Central Activities Association decision against Ellsworth."I was a little bit (nervous), but after so many experiences that I went through last year, it wasn't too bad," said Brown, who led a balanced Sacred Heart attack with 13 points. "I stayed confident and knocked three of them down."With the victory, Sacred Heart improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the NCAA. Ellsworth, which honored its 1989 state championship team at halftime, slipped to 2-7 and 1-4.Sacred Heart appeared well on its way to a rout after scoring the game's first 10 points and withstood one Ellsworth run in the second quarter to lead 25-17 at halftime. But Takota Anderson, who missed much of the first half with foul trouble, went on a tear after the break to bring the Bearcats back in it.Anderson scored Ellsworth's first 14 points of the third quarter, tying the game three times before a charging foul sent him to the bench at the 3:18 mark with his fourth personal.Sacred Heart went up 35-33 on Lucas Comfort's basket with 1:50 left in the period, but with 1:32 to go Grant Glaser gave Ellsworth its first lead, 36-35, on a three-pointer from the left wing. The Bearcats took the lead into the fourth quarter but were unable to build on it.Sacred Heart tied it at 38 on Jerod Toogood's free throw with 6:30 left, sparking an 8-0 Knights run that also included a Colten VonLintel 3-pointer, a jumper by Tate Richards and Brown's driving layup to make it 45-38 with 4:11 to go.But Ellsworth stayed alive with two 3-pointers from Morgan Barkow, the second cutting it to 49-46 with three minutes to go. Brown and VonLintel each hit two foul shots for Sacred Heart, but another three from Glaser trimme存倉 it to three at the 6-second mark."We always practice free throws when we're tired, and that helps at the end of games," VonLintel said.The Knights were just 4 of 13 from the line through the first three quarters.Brown went to the line again with 4.7 seconds on the clock and hit the front end of a one-and-one, and Anderson only had time for a long 3-point heave at the buzzer that missed the mark."It's tough in this league to get a win on the road," Sacred Heart coach Pat Martin said. "But if we get the lead and make free throws, we have a pretty good offense."One thing about Brooks is he missed four in a row, and I've never seen him do that before. We're going to stick with him, and VonLintel is a senior and he hit a couple of big ones, too."For Sacred Heart, which shot 52.5 percent from the field, Austin Palen joined Brown in double figures with 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Austin Kack added nine points.Anderson had 16 points, all in the second half, to lead Ellsworth. Glaser and Barkow added eight points each with Barkow also helping the Bearcats to a 32-24 rebounding advantage with seven.Ellsworth girls 49,Sacred Heart 35Sacred Heart, still looking for its first league victory, hung with Ellsworth into the second half, erasing a five-point deficit to tie it at 20 on Cara Donley's short jumper and three-point play.But Ellsworth (6-3, 3-2) answered with three straight baskets underneath by Connor Davis, who led all scorers with 25 points. Halle Connally then hurt the Knights underneath in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of her 17 points as the Bearcats blew it open."We just couldn't hold them down inside when we went to man (defense)," said Sacred Heart coach Mark Ramsey, whose Knights fell to 2-7 and 0-5. "We just have a hard time putting four quarters together."They killed us down low, and we had too many turnovers."For the Knights, Donley led the way with 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting, but nobody else had more than four.Ellsworth outrebounded the Knights, 35-30, with Connally grabbing 12. Donley and Makenzie Kack each had seven for Sacred Heart.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 The Salina Journal (Salina, Kan.) Visit The Salina Journal (Salina, Kan.) at .saljournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存