Nashville boys get first win on late basket
Among the top girls basketball coaches in the state for 15 years, Wayne Harre had many memorable moments as the head coach of the Nashville Hornettes.
On Tuesday, Harre collected his first memorable moment as head coach of Nashville’s boys team.
Sophomore Matt Anderson hit a layup with 19 seconds remaining to give his team its only lead of the night as Nashville rallied for a 38-37 win over Columbia at the Mascoutah Tip-Off Classic.
Columbia (1-2), getting 18 points from senior all-state guard Jordan Holmes, led 37-30 with just over three minutes remaining. But a 3-pointer from Jack Haley and a conventional 3-point play from Bryson Bultman cut the Eagles’ lead to 37-36.
Holmes was then called for a charging foul, which set up Anderson’s game-winning basket.
“To get the first win as the boys coach ... it feels good. But its about the kids. They played so hard tonight,” Harre said. “We’ve been telling them that they need to play hard on every possession. To hold a very good Columbia team, who has an all-state player in (Jordan) Holmes to 37 points ... it was just a tremendous effort by the kids.”
Nashville (1-1) did have a couple of anxious moments in the last sequence. The Eagles worked the game clock down to under five seconds when Holmes missed a free-throw-line jumper. The clock ran out, but after a delay, the officials put 0.3 seconds back on the clock and gave Columbia the basketball underneath the basket.
Before the ball was inbounded, Anderson was called for holding sophomore center Jon Peterson away from the basket. Peterson, however, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 as time expired, and Nashville had the win.
Mascoutah 79, Waterloo 62
Shawn Wienstroer and Tyler Jowett combined for 12 third-quarter points as the Indians (2-1) broke open a close game and went on for the comeback win over Mississippi Valley Conference rival Waterloo.
Trailing 10-0 just three minutes into the game and falling behind the Bulldogs by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, the Indians used a 17-3 scoring drive early in the third quarter to take control. With guard Jarred Johnson scoring seven of his 11 points, and Wienstroer and Jowett adding 12 points, Mascoutah turned a 26-24 halftime deficit into a 56-46 lead after three quarters.
“We were very flat early in the first quarter, and I was concerned how we would react. We were either going to pack it in, or we were going to keep battling back. I was glad to see that kind of effort from our team,” said first-year Indians coach Justin Love.
“We have very good depth on this basketball team, and I thought it was important that we utilize that depth tonight. We were able to press and trap, get some turnovers and turn those turnovers into some easy baskets. That was a key part of this win.
Wienstroer led Mascoutah with 16 points, while Johnson added 11 and Jowett chipped in with 10 points. Waterloo junior Tre Wahlig had four 3-point baskets and led all scorers with 19 points.
This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Nashville boys get first win on late basket."