Highland overcomes halftime deficit, but falls short late at Chatham Glenwood
A day after not playing at Jerseyville due to a COVID-19 postponement, the Highland boys basketball headed north to Chatham and turned in a gritty effort.
The Bulldogs overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to lead into the fourth quarter, but a cold-shooting final eight minutes doomed them in a 48-39 road loss Saturday, Dec. 11.
Highland had the early lead as a Jake Ottensmeier 3-pointer and buckets from Joe Jansen and Gunnar Mackey put the Bulldogs ahead 8-5.
“At the beginning, we kind of punched them in the mouth and were able to hold our own,” said Highland interim coach Cody Best, filling in for Bulldogs head coach Deryl Cunningham, currently recovering from a kidney transplant on Dec. 1. “Really what I told them is it’s a game of runs. We had our run, they had their run and it was back and forth.”
In the second quarter, turnovers, missed rebound chances and foul trouble to Ottensmeier allowed Chatham to take a 24-17 lead into halftime.
After the break, Highland (2-5) got its offense going some in the third quarter. A 10-3 run to start the period, helped put the Bulldogs ahead. HHS remained hot, outscoring the Titans 17-8 in the quarter to carry a 34-32 lead into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, however, the Bulldogs efficient offense disappeared as they began to turn the ball over. Glenwood ultimately outscored HHS 16-5 in the last eight minutes to prevail.
“We definitely played more physical than we have been and I can say it definitely paid off at the beginning. But we definitely couldn’t hit the shots down the stretch. I don’t think we really took any bad shots, but we’ve just got to take (better) care of the ball down the stretch. That’s for sure,” Best said.
Ottensmeier led Highland with 14 points while Jansen added 10 points and Brendan Gelly scored nine points.
Despite the loss, Best said he felt the game will help the Bulldogs continue to improve as they head back into Mississippi Valley Conference action.
“This is one of those where it will help us with our conference (schedule). We’re not putting easy games on the schedule for a reason,” Best said.
Highland resumes play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 17, against arch rival Triad at home.
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 1:32 AM.