The two teams traded leads throughout the second half.  A missed free throw and a missed offensive put back by Rothsay at the end of regulation continued the game to overtime.

“We did not string together any defensive stops as we fell behind at halftime,” reported Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin. “We did a rather poor job containing the ball handler and the result was that Rothsay seemed pretty comfortable in their dribble-drive, drive-and-kick offense. On the offensive side, we really struggled with our shot selection. We knew Rothsay would face-guard Sam and it truly affected the kinds of shots we decided to take. We also took an inordinate amount of shots off of one or two passes. The second half was a different story in terms of our defensive resolve. We did a better job containing the drive. Offensively we were a bit more patient and got the shots that were more us.”

Sam Brumfield scored a team high 19 to lead the Comets and Justin Petersen added 13.  Yuchan Ha just missed a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds, while Caden Fischer chipped in with 7 points.  Matthew Knutson didn’t score, but had 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

“Noah Brumfield played some valuable minutes for us in his first action in two weeks and ended up with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists,” added Garvin.

Sam Danielson and Chris Carrillo led the Tigers with 13 points each.  Tanner Heier contributed 11 and Karson Jensen and Matthew Danielson scored 8 points apiece.

“In overtime both teams continued to be aggressive, trading baskets and free throws,” said Rothsay Head Coach Taylor Fuhs.  “I am very proud of the effort our boys put in the entire game.  When things didn’t go the way we wanted they continued to compete and battle.  We have had some really exciting games the past couple years against HLA, and this one did not disappoint.  Both teams played their hearts out and they made one more play than we did at the end.”

Rothsay (4-8) will travel to Hancock on Monday night.  They will then host Ashby on Thursday and Underwood on Friday.

Hillcrest (10-2) has won eight straight games.  They will host Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley on Monday and travel to play Mahnomen/Waubun on Tuesday night.  The Comets will resume Little Eight Conference play on Friday with a home game against Brandon-Evansville.