Last second shot falls short in loss to Baldwin

By Andy Brown
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Updated: February 18, 2016

Louisburg junior Jayce Geiman passes the ball off to teammate Korbin Hankinson during Tuesday’s league game against Baldwin. Geiman finished with a game-high 18 points, including six 3-pointers in the 60-59 loss.

With six seconds left and time ticking away, Grant Harding drove the lane, rose up for a shot and let it go.

If it goes in, Louisburg completes a comeback to beat Baldwin and snaps a seven-game losing skid in the process.

“I thought it was going in,” Louisburg coach Jason Nelson said. “Whenever any of the guys put up a shot, I always think it is going in.”

Instead, Harding’s shot bounced off the rim as time expired and the Wildcats suffered a 60-59 loss to Baldwin on Tuesday at Louisburg High School. The loss made it tough for a lot of the players and coaches as they still continue to search for the elusive win to stop the streak.

“The perseverance thing is the key for all of us for when we are going to get out of this tailspin,” Nelson said. “We are so close in putting everything together. I would put these kids up against anyone in the world in practice as far as effort. We know what we need to fix, but it is about me getting everyone on the same page and driving it home.”

The Wildcats (6-11) shot well from the field as they hit on 54 percent of their shots, but the problem was Baldwin did as well. The Bulldogs connected on 10 3-pointers and held the lead from a minute left in the first quarter to the 1 minute and 42 second mark of the fourth quarter.

Louisburg was constantly trying to play catch up as it found itself down 10 points going into the fourth quarter and the Wildcats trailed by eight points with just under three minutes left in the game.

Korbin Hankinson goes up for a shot Tuesday against Baldwin at Louisburg High School.

Junior Jayce Geiman kept the game close as he put together one of his best shooting performances of the season. Geiman made six 3-pointers, including one that gave the Wildcats the lead late, and scored a team-high 18 points.

The Wildcats also had some success underneath the basket. Forward T.J. Dover added 14 points in the loss and had a team-high six rebounds. Harding finished with 13 points

“Jayce was fantastic,” Nelson said. “He had a couple good takes in the first half and two of them I thought he got fouled on. His shots were coming off free and easy. We don’t mind good 3’s. We talk about bad 3’s a lot about being one pass and shoot, or dribble down and just shoot.

“When Jayce got hot, we were going through progressions, T.J. and Dalton (Ribordy) got touches inside and we were working inside-out. That left a lot of open looks for Jayce and Grant. Those two can bury open shots.”

Those two players did that late in the fourth quarter to help get the Wildcats back in the game. With 2:47 left, and Louisburg down by eight, Harding hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a span of 20 seconds to cut the Baldwin lead to two.

Geiman put Louisburg in front with a 3-pointer of his own with 1:42 left and gave the Wildcats their first lead in three quarters. Baldwin took the lead back on a basket with 45 seconds left.

Dover hit a jumper to put the Wildcats up one with 17 seconds remaining, but Baldwin drove the ball down the floor and was fouled with 11 seconds left. Baldwin’s Austin Ward hit both free throws, which set up one final opportunity for Louisburg with six seconds remaining and Harding with the ball at the top of the key.

“We were coming to set a screen and T.J. was going to slide down from the block and Jayce was going to slide to the corner so that gave us three different options,” Nelson said. “There was six seconds left so that was enough time to get something. I always think it is going in with these kids, but it just didn’t this time.”

Louisburg will get another chance to stop its losing streak Friday when it hosts Spring Hill. Tipoff is set for approximately 7:30 p.m.

LOUISBURG 10 14 15 20 – 59

BALDWIN 16 13 20 11 – 60

LOUISBURG (6-11): Jayce Geiman 6-11 0-1 18; T.J. Dover 7-8 0-0 14; Grant Harding 5-13 1-4 13; Korbin Hankinson 3-5 0-0 6; Dalton Ribordy 2-3 0-0 4; Sam Guetterman 1-2 0-0 2; Alex Dunn 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 25-46 1-5 59. 3-point field goals: 8, (Geiman 6, Harding 2)