Photo by Noah Clooten
FORT TOTTEN — Jonte Delorme and Tyson Leshuk traded go-ahead threes in the final 18 seconds of Friday’s contest.
But Hillsboro/Central Valley (8-12, 2-6) had the final possession, taking down Four Winds/Minnewaukan (13-7, 4-4) with a three-pointer right before the buzzer. It was a 57-55 heartbreaker.
The Indians led by nine at halftime but got outscored 19-8 in the third quarter. They turned the ball over 17 times.
“They shoved it down our throat offensively,” FW/M head coach Rick Smith said. “I mean, those things can’t happen. We can’t get out-worked. That’s not who we are. And that’s what happened to us tonight. And that’s why Hillsboro won the game. They deserved the win.”
Marial Deng led the Indians with 17 points. Delorme, who nearly played hero, had 14. Chase Haffely scored 18 for the Burros, including a half-court buzzer beater at halftime that seemed relatively insignificant at the time but proved to be the difference.
It was a fairly even first quarter, with FW/M inching ahead but H/CV hanging in there. Deng had the first eight Indians points. Down 12-10, Delorme and Lohnes hit back-to-back threes to help FW/M stay up 18-15 after the first quarter.
The Burros had their deficit within one, but the Indians scored eight straight to start separating themselves. Deng had four more points to finish with 12 in the first half. Delorme hit his second of three triples on the evening to make FW/M’s lead as large as 12.
Haffely flung one up from around half-court as the final seconds of the first half ticked down — a shot that almost never goes in. But on this night, it did. Burros fans reacted with awe, but their celebration was tame given the score at the time.
Keilan Longie hit a three out of the halftime break for the Indians. But a 12-point lead quickly crumbled into a one-point lead. H/CV hit four three-pointers in the third quarter, including two more from Haffely, who scored 10 points in the period. Keithan Muller also hit a pair of triples for the Burros.
Lohnes had an enormous three of his own to give the Indians some breathing room at 41-37. But, with their lead still at four, the Indians allowed six straight points to end the third quarter.
They went into the final eight minutes trailing 45-43.
“They played well. They shot the ball extremely well,” Smith said of the Burros. “It just seemed like in that third quarter, they just took it to us. I thought that was probably the game in that third quarter.”
The fourth quarter started, once again, with a big three for FW/M. It came from the hands of Deng, who was held scoreless in the third quarter. But H/CV boosted ahead again with a 9-2 stretch in its favor. The game was slipping away for the Indians, down 54-48.
But they weren’t without final signs of life. Deng and Dorvan McKay each had a bucket to cut the deficit to two. It was 54-52 with 4:19 left, and it remained that way for about the next four minutes. Both teams forced stops and the Indians missed multiple put-backs.
Delorme found an open look from beyond the arc and swished it in with 18 seconds left. H/CV got the ball back in its possession, but, struggling to find an opening and with almost no room for error, called a timeout with nine seconds to go.
Both teams had a chance to discuss how they’d go about these final nine seconds.
“We just tried to lock up defensively the best way we could,” Smith said.
The Burros played urgently, and found Leshuk uncontested in the middle. He stayed calm and made one last-chance shot — that went in.
“I thought there was a little fumble there, and got the kid Leshuk open,” Smith said. “I thought we took the middle away, got the middle taken away, and I thought we had the chance to get our hands on the ball, and it popped out to him. Got a clean look with nobody on him. And that’s Hillsboro-Four Winds’ M.O. It just seems like if they get the ball at the end against us, we’re doomed. That’s the third time that’s happened to us that they beat us on a buzzer beater.”
And so the Indians, triumphant only seconds earlier, had to walk off the court with a tough-luck loss. The Burros erupted and formed a mob on the Indians’ home court.
“When you don’t play hard enough in games, you’re gonna get beat,” Smith said. “This region is just too tough. The region is full of big players, strong players. And if we can’t show that up, it’s gonna be a quick regional tournament for us.”
This was FW/M’s penultimate game of the regular season, preceding a matchup with No. 4 Thompson on March 4. The region tournament will be held from March 10-13 at Betty Engelstad Arena. The Indians are in position to be the No. 3 seed out of six teams in Region 2.
“I want to see some consistency,” Smith said. “It just seems like when we’re turning that corner and we’re starting to go uphill, we just kind of slip and fall and go back downhill again. And we can’t do that. We just can’t do that. We’ve gotta keep striving for improvement… You can’t have 17, 20 turnovers in the regional tournament.”
