Highland boys secure big Mississippi Valley Conference victory against Mascoutah
Beating the Mascoutah Indians has been more of a dream than a reality for the Highland basketball team the past four seasons.
On Friday night, Grant Fleming, Jake Ottensmeier and the Bulldogs turned that dream into a wonderful reality.
Oteensmeier kickstarted an 11-6 closing run with a layup off a Fleming steal and the Bulldogs held off the always-tough Indians for a thrilling 51-45 Mississippi Valley Conference win at Highland High School.
Knocking off Mascoutah for the first time since Jan. 29, 2019, left Ottensmeier gushing about the Bulldogs’ latest on-court success.
“We’ve turned it around so much that it’s crazy,” Ottensmeier said. “It’s great and all these seniors (getting) beaten these past three years, and this is my third year, and I hadn’t beaten them either, so it was just great to come together as a team and especially to do it in front our home fans ... it’s the best thing (about it).”
Highland coach Deryl Cunningham also knew beating Mascoutah was a huge shot in the arm for the program.
“It’s a good win for us. Mascoutah had done extremely well, and they’re well-coached, and they’ve got a good program all the way around,” Cunningham said. “It feels good to get it, and it wasn’t always pretty, but like I told the guys, in conference games, everybody knows what everybody’s gonna do ... it’s gonna be ugly sometimes.”
It was pretty early as Highland (14-6 overall, 3-3 in the MVC) came out hot thanks to a 6-0 run keyed by buckets from Ottensmeier and Fleming for a quick 10-3 lead.
Late in the second quarter, Mascoutah (14-5, 4-2) found its rhythm, as a Jayden McCoo triple ignited a 7-4 surge, giving the Indians a 27-24 lead at halftime.
A Quincy Hall drive for two pushed the margin to 38-32, but Cade Altadonna answered at the other end with a pair of free throws , pulling HHS to within 38-34 as the third quarter wound down.
A pull up 15-footer by Ottensmeier tied the score at 40-40 with a little over 5 minutes left. That’s when the Bulldogs turned up the defensive pressure on Mascoutah’s backcourt, as Fleming stole a pass and hit Ottensmeir for a run-out layup to make it 42-40. Ottensmeier scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the second half. Fleming added 16 points and Altadonna scored 7 points.
That spurred an 11-6 run that put the Bulldogs in the win column for the third time in a week and completed their second comeback victory on the heels of a come-from-behind clutch triumph Jan. 7 over Quincy Notre Dame.
‘We just really dug deep’
“It was great,” Ottensmeier said. “We came together in the huddle, and we said you know they’ve kicked our butts these past couple of years and we just really dug deep and decided to take over.”
Cunningham credited his team’s relentless focus on finishing games for the strong finish against Mascoutah.
“I said (to them), this isn’t the NBA,” Cunningham said. “We don’t let a clock run down, and I told the guys I don’t care if we’re down 40, we play until the whistle blows at the end, and they get that and they keep fighting.”
McCoo led Mascoutah with 14 points while Hall scored 11 points, and Michael Fox added 10 points.
This story was originally published January 14, 2023 at 3:26 AM.