UPDATE: The Cardinals fell to first seed Slater, 64-47, in the second round of district play at New Franklin Wednesday night, Feb. 26.
The Tipton Cardinal boys basketball team, seeded fifth in the Class 2 District 8 Tournament, upset the fourth seed Northwest-Hughesville Mustangs in an overtime game at New Franklin, 58-57.
Tipton came out slow, looking grim the first quarter, trailing 23-9, being beat by the Mustangs ability to drown 3-pointers.
In the second quarter, Tipton closed the gap, trailing by 6 going into halftime.
“I thought the boys came out timid, but once we got focused and locked in we did a lot of good things,” said Coach Michael Reeves. “This gave the boys the moment to claw their way back into the game.”
By the third quarter Tipton found their stride and was able to take a short lead, followed by tie after tie between the two teams. The third quarter ended with Tipton trailing, 40-37.
Fouls plagued the Cardinalsfor the last half of the game, but Tipton kept the game tight, fighting to the final moment, with regulation play ending in a tie at 52.
The Cardinals and Mustangs went into overtime, with Lucas Cashman on a roll, putting up four points. With 47 seconds left in the game, Northwest put up a three that made the score 56-55 in Tipton’s favor with just seconds to play.
Dane Schlotzhauer shot last minute free throws to move the score gap to 58-55. Northwest would get in one more shot under the basket, but it wasn’t enough to stop Tipton from claiming the victory.
“I was proud of the boys’ effort and fight they showed tonight,” said Reeves. “They chose to not give up and fought back. This time of the year it’s survive and advance.”
Stats
Lucas Cashman and Will Cashman were on fire with their shots, both putting up 20 for the game. They were followed by Dane Schlotzhauer and Ben Bestgen with 5 each, while Landon Bracht had 4, and Ty Bixler and Andrew Bestgen added 2 each. All other stats were not available at the time of print.
Coming up
The Cardinals move on to play the first seeded Slater Wildcats who hold a 19-4 record.
“Slater is a good team that has a really good player who we will need to focus on,” said Reeves. “If we can come out with high energy and rebound well then I like our chances to come out on top.”
Tipton and Slater will meet at New Franklin Wednesday, Feb. 26, with tip off at 6 p.m. The winner will move on to play the winner of the second seed New Franklin Bulldogs and third seed Smithton Tigers at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28 for the Class 2, District 8 championship.
