With four seconds left in regulation, Seth Marx dropped a clutch three pointer from the corner breaking the tie and putting the Red Knights up by three. As time expired, however, senior Darry Jones banked a fade away three pointer for the Hawks to send the fast-paced, high scoring game into a four minute overtime. There, the Cooper Hawks pulled away with the win outscoring BSM 93-89.
Deja vú struck the Red Knights fans, as they watched the Hawks steal a victory as they did on January 5 in the Haben Center. “Coming into the game, we expected a similar game to our first one against them. We just couldn’t close the game out on them,” said sophomore Isaiah Zierden.
According to senior captain Darren Glover, playing a fast and physical game was the key to success against Cooper’s high scoring offense. “We knew our offense could get it done, we just got it going in the second half,” said Glover. “We played better in the second half then we did in the first.”
Offense wasn’t an issue for the Red Knights in the 93-89 loss. “The game plan was to play good defense. They had the stronger defense the first time we played them,” said Glover.
Leading the Red Knights in scoring was senior Pete Crawford with 32 points and Isaiah Zierden with 25. Darry Jones Jr. for the Cooper Hawks registered 28 points, including his buzzer beating three pointer. After much dispute and consultation, the questionable three pointer was ruled good and gave Cooper a shot in overtime where they outscored BSM 14 to 10.
Calvin Godfrey, a Division I prospect and the Hawks’ leading scorer, fouled out early in the overtime and wasn’t much of a factor in closing the game out. “I think it helped [Cooper] because they put more guards out there which made their defense quicker,” said Zierden.
The BSM players are moving on from this tough loss, and were overall satisfied by their hard fought performance. “We competed for the whole game, we just made some mistakes at the end and had too many turnovers,” said junior Evan Battle.
The Red Knights look to continue strong performances on March 10 at sections. “My expectations are to win sections and go to state,” said sophomore Isaiah Zierden.
