SOUTH WAYNE — The Pecatonica boys basketball team picked up arguably its biggest win in nearly four years on Jan. 21, rallying from down 16 over the final eight minutes to secure its 62-60 overtime victory over Black Hawk.

“You just kind of count your blessings and make plays — nothing’s really over until it’s over,” said Pecatonica coach Matt Fink. “We’ve played well over the last five or six games. Our league is pretty wide open, and you like to play your rival. Black Hawk played hard — it was a great high school basketball game. You just appreciate nights like this. The kids started figuring things out and you can only hope this is a springboard for the rest of the season.”

Senior Hunter Enloe agreed with his coach, adding that it was the biggest win of his varsity career.

“I’d say it was the biggest,” Enloe said. “Coach told us that was the biggest game we were going to play for a long time this season. We came out and executed.”

Black Hawk (6-11, 4-2) led nearly the entire game. The Warriors trailed 7-2 after two minutes of action, but a 9-0 run put the hosts in the lead, a position they would hold for the next 33 minutes. 

“Coach told us at halftime to just come out and run our stuff right,” Enloe said. “Our defense played amazing in the second half — that’s what won us the game.”

Black Hawk led 34-20 at halftime and held its largest lead of the game at 17 after a bucket in the paint by Dayton Burmeister with 12:23 remaining. With 8 minutes left, the Warriors still held a 16-point lead at 48-32.

“I think something can be said for staying the course and sticking with a game plan. We thought we could press them and we thought we could turn them over. At times faith gets lost in the plan when you’re down,” Fink said.

Enloe scored on a tip-in at the 7:53 mark, then hit a 3-pointer a minute later. A drive to the dish by Tyler McKeon brought the score back to single digits, igniting a spark in the Vikings (6-7, 3-2) on the floor, on the bench, and in the stands.

“That’s the beauty of coaching kids and high school sports — you get a little whiff of momentum and keep doing what you’re doing, and this can turn around,” Fink said.

Andrew Figi gave Black Hawk a spark in the second half at both ends of the court, and put an end to a scoreless streak that lasted more than five minutes, with a cut to the hoop with 4:47 to play, putting his team back up by 11. Nearly a minute later, Enloe was fouled on a basket and hit the free throw to pull his team to within eight at 50-42. Elijah Shelton once more made it a double-digit difference with a putback of his own on Black Hawk’s next possession.

It would be the last score the Warriors would have until the middle of overtime. After Shelton’s hoop, Black Hawk turned the ball over on seven straight possessions, in which Pecatonica went on a 9-0 run to pull to within a point at 52-51. 

Lucas Milz had a chance to break Black Hawk’s scoreless streak with just 50.7 seconds left, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 bonus and Pec’s Jameson Johnson snagged the rebound. McKeon opted to drive to the hoop but was fouled with 28.4 left on the clock. As he landed, McKeon pulled up lame and went to the court with a cramp. Fink opted to call a timeout to give his guard a chance to recover.

“Again, the beauty of coaching kids is you get to watch them grow up. Tyler has matured a lot athletically — a lot physically in the last year — and to make winning plays like that for us speaks a lot to his leadership as a sophomore,” Fink said.

McKeon then went to the line for the double bonus, missing the first, but hitting the second to even it up at 52. A circus shot at the buzzer by Black Hawk nearly gave the home squad a walk-off victory, instead the Warriors went into overtime deep in foul trouble.

Initially, it was the Vikings struggling with foul trouble. Junior Coy Ruegsegger picked up his fourth foul less than two minutes into the second half, but returned with 9:17 left to play. By then, teammates Kegun Brunker and Enloe had collected their third foul each. 

“We only play seven or eight guys, and we have to play with fouls — and we challenge them to do that and still not lose that aggressiveness,” Fink said. “I thought that was the difference. The kids that were in at the end of the game for Black Hawk played their butts off, but they lost a couple of starters to foul trouble. That very easily could have been us.”

Momentum swung back to Pecatonica’s advantage when Ruegsegger returned, however. The Warriors were whistled for eight penalties over the final nine minutes of regulation compared to Pec’s three, leading to starting guard Dempsey Schliem to foul out with 1:04 to play, and teammates Seth Dunleavy and Lucas Milz each sitting on four fouls.

The Vikings went to a full-court press and ran a half-court trap, forcing turnover after turnover. By overtime, the Warriors were down two starters, with Milz also fouling out moments after his missed free throw attempt late in the second.

Free throws were a struggle for Pec in the second half, as they made just 50% of shots from the stripe after halftime (12-for-24). 

“We’re definitely going to have to work on our free throws,” said Enloe, who went 5-for-8 himself in the game, and just 3 of 6 in the overtime.

After single throws by Johnson and Enloe put the Vikings ahead by two a minute into the extra frame, Ruegsegger missed a pair, keeping the score a one-possession affair. Dunleavy, who fouled out fighting Ruegsegger for a rebound, was replaced by Gabe Nelson, who promptly hit a shot from the short corner to even it at 54, igniting the home crowd, which had been desperate for a hoop. However, Enloe quickly shut down the crowd’s roar with a 3-pointer. 

Thrice over the final 2:17 the Vikings held a 4-point lead. With 4.2 seconds left, the Vikings turned it over on the inbound. Fink had his players play off the ball, allowing a timeout-less Black Hawk squad a free shot at the hoop. Dylan Haldiman came in off the bench for Figi, who picked up four fouls in the overtime period. Haldiman buried a 3 from the corner with a second left, and the Warriors bench called for a timeout, initiating a technical foul, which not only left time on the clock, but forced one last inbound attempt that could go for a turnover and desperation heave. Enloe sank one of the two free throws, and the Vikings lobbed the ball into the paint for a quick tip to have the clock expire, sealing the incredible comeback.

In all, the Vikings capped the game on a 26-8 run over the final 12 minutes of action. Enloe led all scorers with 29 points — 21 of which came after halftime. McKeon had 11 points and Brunker had eight — all of which came in the second half and overtime. Ruegsegger finished the night with seven points and played nearly 13 minutes from his re-entry with four fouls before fouling out with 21.7 seconds left in overtime.

“Hunter fell in line, and Kegun and Coy made big plays — everybody contributed something positive. We’ve been behind a lot this year, but we just keep fighting. It’s a fun group to coach and they keep us in it,” Fink said.

Burmeister led Black Hawk with 16 points, while Dunleavy had 10. Milz finished with nine points. The Warriors were just 8-for-18 from the line in the game, including just 2-for-8 after halftime. 

Up next for Pecatonica is a home game Jan. 24 against Barneveld (3-12, 3-2), with a nonconference matchup against eighth-ranked River Ridge (14-1) Jan. 27, and a road game at Argyle (2-10, 1-3) Jan. 29.

“We’re still in this conference race. It’s up for grabs for anyone at this point,” Enloe said.

Black Hawk hosts Argyle Jan. 24, then plays at Monticello (8-7, 7-0) Jan. 27 before a nonconference game at New Glarus (9-7) Jan. 31.