ORANGEVILLE, Ill. - Life has a way of reminding us that basketball is just a game. Basketball has a way of reminding us that the game itself can be memorable.
Before Monday night's non-conference game between Black Hawk and Orangeville, one of the Black Hawk players had a relative collapsed in the hallway moments before the start of the contest due to cardiac arrest. He was taken to the hospital.
But even with that and a blizzard slowly rolling into town, the game went on. Orangeville erased a 13-point deficit to pick up a 72-70 double-overtime win over Black Hawk.
"It was a great game. When we had to make plays we made plays and when Orangeville had to make plays they did too," Warriors coach Kyle Bille said. "It came down to who had a chance on the last play."
Orangeville junior Brady Pickett hit a runner with four seconds left to seal the win for the Broncos.
"Last summer we played in a tournament and Brady hit a shot at the buzzer to win that tournament," Broncos coach Mike Huenefeld said. "He's just a clutch kid. He doesn't let pressure faze him a lot."
Black Hawk trailed by four, 64-60, with a minute and a half to play but sophomore shooting guard Merik Meythaler twice sparked the Warrior faithful. Meythaler hit two, 3-pointers in an 80-second span to tie the game at 70-70.
"Merik must have just left a little too much time on the clock. We did a good job that last drive defending, (Pickett) just made a great shot," Bille said.
But with 10 seconds left, Huenefeld chose not to call timeout and instead let his team go for the win.
"I thought about calling timeout, but I decided to let it play out. Usually when you call a timeout you give the defense a chance to set," Huenefeld said. "We were in transition and they were all excited that they had tied it up. But sometimes when you get in that position you lose focus for just a second. And that's what happened. They lost focus for a second and Brady got into the lane."
The game took a little while to get interesting. Black Hawk opened up a 13-point lead in the second quarter, only to see Orangeville fight their way back into the game.
"We knew it was going to be a four quarter game. We built a big lead in the first half by hitting some really nice shots and playing defense," Bille said. "But Orangeville picked it up big time and forced us to tense up a little bit. They got right back into the game."
A 10-2 run late in the second quarter helped give the Broncos a spark before halftime. The Warriors had led 24-11 with under four minutes to play in the second, but trouble stopping Orangeville's post play allowed the game to get back to 26-20 at the break.
"Our biggest concern going in was their post," Bille said. "We didn't know how we were going to defend that."
The Broncos' frontcourt consists of six players 6-foot-2 or taller, compared to Black Hawk's one (Christian Krahenbuhl).
Orangeville brought the game to within two points in the third, but trailed 40-34 headed into the fourth. That's when 6-foot-6 senior Chris Brinkmeier took over. Brinkmeier scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half before fouling out with 1:03 left in the second overtime.
"It was much more exciting than it needed to be," Huenefeld said. "The big thing that happened later in the game was that we were able to get the ball inside. We obviously had a tremendous advantage in the post. As the game progressed, whether they fatigued or what, we were able to get the ball inside."
Michael Wolff had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors. Wolff's teammates Cory Rupnow and Krahenbuhl each scored 12 and Meythaler had a team-high 16. Krahenbuhl and Hayden Schliem each fouled out. Orangeville's Brandon Zimmerman joined Brinkmeier in double figures with 10 points.
It was Orangeville's ninth-straight win. Black Hawk (5-9, 2-5 Six Rivers East) gets back into action on Thursday on the road at Argyle (3-9, 1-6).
Before Monday night's non-conference game between Black Hawk and Orangeville, one of the Black Hawk players had a relative collapsed in the hallway moments before the start of the contest due to cardiac arrest. He was taken to the hospital.
But even with that and a blizzard slowly rolling into town, the game went on. Orangeville erased a 13-point deficit to pick up a 72-70 double-overtime win over Black Hawk.
"It was a great game. When we had to make plays we made plays and when Orangeville had to make plays they did too," Warriors coach Kyle Bille said. "It came down to who had a chance on the last play."
Orangeville junior Brady Pickett hit a runner with four seconds left to seal the win for the Broncos.
"Last summer we played in a tournament and Brady hit a shot at the buzzer to win that tournament," Broncos coach Mike Huenefeld said. "He's just a clutch kid. He doesn't let pressure faze him a lot."
Black Hawk trailed by four, 64-60, with a minute and a half to play but sophomore shooting guard Merik Meythaler twice sparked the Warrior faithful. Meythaler hit two, 3-pointers in an 80-second span to tie the game at 70-70.
"Merik must have just left a little too much time on the clock. We did a good job that last drive defending, (Pickett) just made a great shot," Bille said.
But with 10 seconds left, Huenefeld chose not to call timeout and instead let his team go for the win.
"I thought about calling timeout, but I decided to let it play out. Usually when you call a timeout you give the defense a chance to set," Huenefeld said. "We were in transition and they were all excited that they had tied it up. But sometimes when you get in that position you lose focus for just a second. And that's what happened. They lost focus for a second and Brady got into the lane."
The game took a little while to get interesting. Black Hawk opened up a 13-point lead in the second quarter, only to see Orangeville fight their way back into the game.
"We knew it was going to be a four quarter game. We built a big lead in the first half by hitting some really nice shots and playing defense," Bille said. "But Orangeville picked it up big time and forced us to tense up a little bit. They got right back into the game."
A 10-2 run late in the second quarter helped give the Broncos a spark before halftime. The Warriors had led 24-11 with under four minutes to play in the second, but trouble stopping Orangeville's post play allowed the game to get back to 26-20 at the break.
"Our biggest concern going in was their post," Bille said. "We didn't know how we were going to defend that."
The Broncos' frontcourt consists of six players 6-foot-2 or taller, compared to Black Hawk's one (Christian Krahenbuhl).
Orangeville brought the game to within two points in the third, but trailed 40-34 headed into the fourth. That's when 6-foot-6 senior Chris Brinkmeier took over. Brinkmeier scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half before fouling out with 1:03 left in the second overtime.
"It was much more exciting than it needed to be," Huenefeld said. "The big thing that happened later in the game was that we were able to get the ball inside. We obviously had a tremendous advantage in the post. As the game progressed, whether they fatigued or what, we were able to get the ball inside."
Michael Wolff had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors. Wolff's teammates Cory Rupnow and Krahenbuhl each scored 12 and Meythaler had a team-high 16. Krahenbuhl and Hayden Schliem each fouled out. Orangeville's Brandon Zimmerman joined Brinkmeier in double figures with 10 points.
It was Orangeville's ninth-straight win. Black Hawk (5-9, 2-5 Six Rivers East) gets back into action on Thursday on the road at Argyle (3-9, 1-6).
