Sophomore Logan Koch made two clutch shots in the final 17 seconds of the second half, including a guarded three pointer with 6.5 seconds left in regulation, to send Mill Valley Hill into overtime and eventually past Piper High 79-77 on Friday.
Koch scored 25 of his 36 points in the second half and overtime to lead the Jaguars (1-0) to their first Kaw Valley League victory of the season. Drew Boatwright added 22 points, and Nick Friesner had 11, including an important basket in overtime to put the Jaguars ahead 78-77 with 3.5 seconds left.
“Wow,” Friesner said. “I think that was one of the best finishes I think I’ve ever seen at Mill Valley.
“Our student section really pushed us through the third and fourth quarters and we fed off of their energy,” he said.
The game stayed close throughout, with more than a dozen lead changes. The Jaguars and Pirates traded basket for basket in the first quarter, before Piper started to pad a lead in the second quarter when the Jaguars couldn’t get a shot to fall and were outrebounded.
“I thought we were looking for our shot to go down too quickly and then we would play defense for longer than we made them play defense,” MVHS coach Justin Bogart said. “We got critical rebounds when we needed to, but Piper really hurt us on the boards.”
The Jaguars went into the third quarter down eight, a lead they reduced to two at the end of the quarter following a Boatwright three pointer.
Boatwright opened the fourth quarter with an explosive three, to put the Jaguars ahead 47-46, before adding another two points off of a steal.
The Jaguars looked like a different team in the final period and were offensively and defensively more organized.
“After one of the timeouts, we told them to trust what we do and trust our preparation,” Bogart said. “We tried to put them in as many difficult situations as possible in practice and we just have to trust our stuff.
“We just reminded them of critical points on defense and that every rebound is a battle that we have to win,” he said.
Both the final minutes of regulation and overtime were wild, with each coming down to the last 15 seconds of play.
“It was a hard fought game and Logan definitely kept us in it,” Boatwright said. “We also had some younger players who stepped up and scored some baskets when we needed them to.”
Both Mill Valley and Piper students remained on their feet for the entirety of the game, vying for loudest student section, before Mill Valley students stormed the court following the win.
“I was just happy to see us overcome a little adversity and get ourselves a win in the first game of the season,” Bogart said. “We had a number of a players make a lot of significant contributions, but ultimately we had a real shift in the fourth quarter and we began to play more together than we had.”
Inexperienced Lady Jaguars commit 31 turnovers in loss
Carly Eaton has taken the helm this season for the lady Jaguars but was unable to compensate for the inexperience of her teammates in Friday’s 46-37 loss to Piper.
Although the Jaguars outrebounded Piper 32-16 — Catie Kaifes had 5 rebounds for the Jaguars — they committed 31 turnovers.
“We are very young in terms of varsity experience and we’ve been talking about taking care of the ball,“ MVHS coach John McFall said. “We were extremely sloppy and had way too many turnovers.
“We showed some toughness and we hung tough, but it seemed like every time we battled back and we would get it even, we turned it over,” he said.
The Jaguars went on an 8-0 run in the second quarter to take a 16-6 lead before the Pirates completely took over and ended the half on an 18-0 run.
“We couldn’t get it back and I think we got ahead and then got one stop and then we went three straight possessions where we didn’t even get the ball to half court,” McFall said.
While the Pirates never trailed in the second half, they led only 27-26 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. But the Jaguars couldn’t grab a lead.
“You’ve got to give Piper credit because they were relentless on defense,” McFall said.
Eaton had 15 points and Kyle Lewis added seven. Both Whitney Hazlett and Savannah Rudicel scored five points apiece.
Freshman Courtney Carlson made her varsity debut at guard for the Jaguars but couldn’t seem to find her rhythm.
“As a freshman, she played like a freshman,” McFall said. “She has been much better than that in practice and she made a couple of mistakes that affected her.
“But it wasn’t just Courtney, it was player after player,” he said.
Carlson’s role this season, as most of the Lady Jaguars’ roles, is something that’s in the process of being worked out, McFall said. The Jaguars graduated all five starters from the 2012-2013 season.
“Right now, we just need to take care of us more than anything,” McFall said.
Angelique McNaughton 