FREEBURG — For a player that never scored until late in the fourth quarter Wednesday, Gibault High point guard Mitch Meyer left a large footprint on the outcome.

Meyer sent the game to overtime on a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining in regulation, then knocked off Civic Memorial 61-59 on a leaning jumper with six seconds remaining.

"I just stepped back and hit a good shot," Meyer said, describing his 3-pointer from the top of the key that sent the teams into overtime. "We fight back, we're a fourth-quarter team. We've been down a couple games this season and came back and won. I just tried to let the game come to me a little bit I guess."

Civic Memorial (5-6) led 25-20 at halftime, but the teams battled to a 35-35 tie heading into the fourth quarter. The Eagles led 50-46 with 1:59 remaining in regulation, but Gibault (11-1) got a 3-pointer from Matt Schreder to cut it to one.

Lowrance, who finished with 23 points, hit two free throws to put CM on top 52-49 with 1:24 left. Two free throws by Gibault's Wes Degener cut the deficit to one, but a long pass to Ben Walker led to a layup for the Eagles that gave them a three-point lead.

Enter Meyer, who had taken only one shot -- a missed 3-pointer -- the entire night. The first shot he made was a 3-pointer that tied the game 46-46 with 3:45 remaining in regulation.

As the final seconds of the fourth quarter were ticking away, Meyer saw an opening from the top of the key and drained the shot that kept his team alive.

"He hit two big shots, didn't he?" Gibault coach Dennis Rueter asked. "We didn't feel like we needed a three coming down the floor, but by the time we messed around and didn't look we were going to do anything, then we needed a three and fortunately he hit it."

Walker tied the game for Civic Memorial in overtime with 21 seconds remaining, but Meyer found an opening in the lane and went up for a shot that he dropped in for the game-winner.

Schreder led Gibault with 17 points, while Degener had 14 and Nick Row had 11. Lowrance had 23 for Civic Memorial and Kyle Yates added 17 before fouling out.

Gibault also beat Civic Memorial 40-30 eight days earlier and that cranked up the intensity in the rematch.

"Our kids and their kids were all going into exams, they had a couple kids sick," Rueter said. "We kind of handled them fairly easily and I told (my players) at the time they're not walking out of here thinking they can't beat us.

"We gave them plenty of hope with the way we played the first time ... obviously they came out and were ready to play (tonight)."

Waterloo 33, Columbia 28

In a low-scoring game that suggested the first team to 30 points might win, that's exactly what happened as Waterloo outlasted Columbia as tight defense and struggling offenses ruled the day.

"I can't believe it was the first team to 30, but it ended up being that way tonight," said Waterloo coach C.J. Cruser, whose 6-4 team won for the fifth time in its last six games. "Our defense has always been able to keep us in games. We still struggle to score points and when we play good teams that can score points, that's when we have difficulties."

Scoring of any type was difficult between these longtime Monroe County rivals.

Waterloo won despite hitting just 13-of-45 shots (29 percent) and seven of 15 free throws -- and with scoring leader Justin Kretchmer (four points) dealing with an illness.

"It's always a big deal when one of your starters are out, everyone has to pick it up and play better," said Waterloo's Shane Lenhardt, who scored a team-high 11 points. "It's always good to beat Columbia."

It wasn't exactly a memorable offensive game for the Eagles (6-4), either, as their five-game winning streak came to a halt.

Columbia was 10-for-33 from the floor (30 percent) and hit just seven of 16 free throws.

"We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game," Columbia coach Mark Sandstrom said. "We were 7-of-16 from the free-throw line and missed four front ends of one-and-ones. That's the difference in the game."

Cruser also praised the defensive work of Rick Wiegand, who helped hold Columbia's leading scorer Michael Hunsaker to four points on 2-for-11 shooting. Hunsaker was averaging 15.9 points before Wednesday.

Offense was at a premium throughout a methodical first half as a driving shot by Waterloo's Jared Lengacher gave his team a 16-14 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs also dealt with early foul trouble while hitting only seven of 28 shots in the first half.

Lenhardt's basket with 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining gave Waterloo a 30-26 lead. A free-throw by Ryan Aycock pushed the lead to five and Columbia never recovered despite being handed several opportunities to cut the deficit.

Waterloo missed six of its nine free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter, but Columbia responded by missing five of seven and hitting only three of its 10 field-goal opportunities.

Freeburg 62, Metro-East Lutheran 48

Down 20-8 after one quarter to Freeburg after losing 70-19 to Marquette earlier in the day, the Metro-East Lutheran Knights staged a remarkable comeback. They cut Freeburg's lead to 43-41 late in the third quarter before the Midgets eventually pulled away with a 10-0 run. Freeburg (3-7) got 22 points from Justin Diecker and 14 from Dalton Crunk, while sophomore John Batts had 19 for the Knights (3-11).

Gibault 66, Dupo 40

Wes Degener scored 13 ofhis game-high 19 points in the first half and Brendan McFarland added 12 as Gibault cruised past Dupo. Demons Brown led Dupo with 13 points.

Marquette 70, Metro-East Lutheran 19

Top-seeded Marquette (7-2) led 20-0 after one quarter and 45-7 at halftime as the Explorers got 15 points from Max Goepel and 12 from Mike Williams-Bey.

Contact reporter Norm Sanders at nsanders@bnd.com or 239-2454.