Reardan, Freeman Do It Again

District 7 1A

Yogi Berra may have had baseball in mind when he said “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” but it rings true in basketball, too.

Just ask the Freeman Scotties and Reardan Indians.

Peter Eastman’s Kodak moment lifted second-seeded Reardan to a 61-60 victory over top-seeded Freeman in the boys District 7 1A tournament Friday night at Mead High School.

Eastman accounted for the game’s final five points, a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left and a driving layup with 2 seconds remaining, to set up a rematch at Mead tonight at 7 for the district crown.

In the opener of Friday’s championship doubleheader, the Colfax Bulldogs took charge in the fourth quarter and posted a 53-37 victory over the Freeman Scotties to claim the girls title and the lone District 7 1A berth into the state tournament.

Reardan 61, Freeman 60

Although both teams have already earned state tournament berths, you wouldn’t have known it by the frenetic pace unleashed from the get-go.

The Indians (15-8) jumped out to a 15-9 first-quarter lead and stretched it to 35-25 at the half thanks mainly to a 16-point effort from Northeast A League most valuable player Reece Jenkin.

The two schools have played five times this season, with Freeman winning three, and as the second half got underway the game took on a familiar spin according to Reardan coach Dan Smith.

“All year long we’ve jumped out to big first-half leads,” he said. “And then in the second half Freeman comes out and outplays us.

“Their big kids wear us down and we have a tough time keeping them off the boards. Once again tonight momentum swung their way in the second half until Reece and Peter made some big plays for us down the stretch.”

Bill DePell tilted momentum to the Scotties’ side when he scored eight points in the first 5:30 of the third quarter to pull Freeman to within 41-40.

Ryan Love’s 3-point basket with 45 seconds left in the period gave the Scotties (15-8) their first lead of the game, 45-43.

Jared Pope scored six points in a span of 1:08 in the fourth quarter to give Freeman a 55-50 lead with 3:22 left.

But Eastman made two free throws and Jenkin followed with back-to-back baskets to put the Indians up 56-55. Those were Jenkin’s first points of the second half.

“They played pretty good defense on me in the second half,” said Jenkin. “But Peter and I are seniors and the end of the game is our time to step up and make things happen.”

Freeman scored five straight points for a 60-56 lead with 37 seconds left before Eastman nailed down the win.

“That was fun,” said Eastman. “We got a little tentative out there, but we went out and got the job done at the end.”

Freeman coach Mike Thacker is ready for round two.

“We’ve got to stop digging big holes in the first half,” he said. “It took a lot of soup for us to come back and we just ran out of gas. But as far as I’m concerned, this isn’t the end … it’s just the beginning.”

Stay tuned.

Reardan 15 20 11 15 - 61

Freeman 9 16 22 13 - 60

Reardan (14-9) - Bocook 2, Eastman 17, Krupke 2, Jenkin 20, Anderson 4, Landreth 4, Falk 4, Flaa 6, Hicks 2.

Freeman (16-7) - Townsend 0, Love 5, Taylor 0, Carrell 0, Snyder 11, Custer 1, DePell 17, Pope 18, Shkuratoff 4, Hyndman 4.

Colfax 53, Freeman 37

Freeman (9-15) gave Colfax (18-5) a run for its money before falling by the wayside in the fourth quarter.

Heather Wilkerson’s rebound basket just 25 seconds into the final period pulled the Scotties to within 33-30. It was as close as they would get.

Tiffany Pitman hit a pair of jumpers to spark an 8-0 Bulldogs run and seal the win.

“That’s pretty much been the story for us all season,” said Colfax coach Dave Ebersole. “We have the ability to make a scoring run and we just kind of hang in there and wait for an opportunity to do it.”

The Scotties had brief leads late in the first quarter, but for most of the game they just tried to stay within striking distance.

“Scott (Moore) has done a fantastic job with that program,” Ebersole said. “They improved a lot over the course of the season.”

It marked the second straight district championship for Colfax.

“I thought we had a good chance at defending our title,” said Ebersole. “Now we’re hoping to get to Saturday (at the state tournament). We lost a couple of tough games last year. This year we want to be playing for a state trophy (on Saturday).”

Freeman 6 4 10 17 - 37

Colfax 9 10 10 24 - 53

Freeman (9-14) - Floch 2, Dahmen 2, Pratt 11, Wilkerson 14, Freeman 6, White 2, Larson 0, Davey 0, Halverson 0.

Colfax (17-5) - Pittman 10, J. Mellor 0, Hall 11, K. VanTine 0, B. VanTine 13, Rohner 14, Baldree 3, Tribbett 2.