It took overtime and another buzzer beater for the No. 4 MMCRU boys to defeat Gehlen Catholic in their second meeting of the year. This time, Jace Colling’s last-second layup put the bow on a 48-47 win over the Jays.
MMCRU head coach Cam Kuchel says after years of struggling it is nice to see his team get these games to go their way.
Gehlen Catholic knew that MMCRU would throw a tough press and a zone defense against them which gave them fits the last time they played. Gehlen Catholic head coach Ryan Wiltgen says the Jays handled it well for the most part.
Because of handling the press well, the Jays had a 12-point lead going into the fourth quarter and led by as much as 10 points with four minutes to go. With all of that, Coach Kuchel says his guys were not concerned and felt they could make the comeback.
Gehlen Catholic stayed in the game late thanks to some big second chances from Mason Small who led the team with 21 points. Coach Wiltgen says they saw he could be a big factor late in the game and adjusted accordingly.
Late in overtime, the Royals were down 47-46 with nine seconds to go. They drew up a play that got the ball under the basket for Jace Colling to lay in the game-winning shot. Coach Kuchel says he was excited for a selfless player to get some glory.
MMCRU improves to 14-2 with the win and 5-1 in the War Eagle Conference. With just six games left on the schedule, Coach Kuchel wants his guys to continue showing up to work and not take days off.
The Royals are back in action on Tuesday at home in Marcus against Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. Gehlen Catholic fell to 11-6 on the year and 5-1 in the War Eagle Conference. They are at Akron-Westfield next on Tuesday in a game you can hear on KLEM.