Markus Spiske via Unsplash
(KWMN)- In a barn burner from Lewiston-Altura high school, seniors Carson Roeder and Jayden Konter combined for 26 points, and Mateo Lopez scored a runner with 15 seconds left to lead the Rambler Boys over the Cardinals, 54-50 to improve to 3-8.
“We haven’t had those kinds of wins; we’ve lost some of those.” Head Coach, Mike Costello said after the game. “We needed one. While we had some errors down the stretch, we made a couple of key plays. Thought we scrapped pretty well all night”
Cotter controlled most of the game, leading by as many as 12 points in the second half. Lewiston-Altura was able to stay in it, though, chipping away at the lead until finally tying the game up at 50 points apiece with under a minute to play.
Off a press-break, Roeder took a pass from John Gibson and lasered it to the far side of the court, where Mateo Lopez was running onto it. Lopez hit a tough floater to give Cotter a 52-50 lead with under 15 seconds to play. Lewiston’s next possession ended with a missed shot, where Gibson grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Gibson hit both of his free throws to ice the game.
“We said if you have something good, go for it, otherwise we had a play set up, but I love that he went and attacked and made that tough little runner,” Costello said of the game winning play.
Cotter lost what was at one point a 12-point lead in the second half. It was beginning to foreshadow an outcome they’ve seen much of to start this season. Having a lead, seeing it dwindle, and lose a close one in the end. They’ve struggled in the close one’s all season. In their eight losses, only two of them have been by double-digits. Finally, that trend broke last night.
“We loved the way they fought, even though we had some struggles, some things we can learn from,” Costello said, “We loved the effort, and that they came in and made a few plays [at the end].”
Not only they defeated some demons from the early portion of this season, finally coming away with a close win. They also avenged two overtime losses from last season to Lewiston-Altura. Proving that this team has grown, regardless of losing two of their leading scorers from last season.
Losing the likes of Gabe Stewart and Luke Gardner has proved to be a challenge for the offense, yet the defense and rebounding were key in the Cotter victory last night. It’s something that they’ll have to hang their hats on all season long. Lewiston entered the matchup last night scoring 73.9 per game, Cotter held them to just 50–their lowest point total of the season.
Costello knows both defense and rebounding will be important for them, especially in a section that is up for grabs,
“I think we know that there’s a few teams in our section that are tough, but if we play like that, we can beat anyone.”
Cotter moves to 3-8, a record that doesn’t accentuate that talent they have, but one they’re stuck with regardless. They’ll face Chatfield on Thursday, hoping to stack some wins together.
Other Area Scores
Rushford-Peterson Boys (9-1) 78-47 P.E.M. (4-8)
Cotter Girls (8-5) 76-29 Lewiston-Altura (6-8)
Rushford-Peterson Girls (7-3) 68-56 P.E.M. (7-5)
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