The Blackhawks came away with a huge victory over the conference leading Loyal Greyhounds on Thursday night, in a game that needed four extra minutes to decide the winner. The Blackhawks defeated the #3 ranked Greyhounds on the road to deliver them their first loss of the season by a final overtime score of 54-52.

The Blackhawks got their first basket of the game on a Dominic Sherwood steal, and he turned it into a full court lay-up. The Hawks managed to get some decent shots, but no results until Mason Gay delivered a nice pass to Winston Poehler for a deep three. Sherwood then cut the Greyhound lead to 11-7 with a hoop of his own. Later, as the Hawks kept it close, Colin Fritz drove hard for two and then Brett Baehr connected on a pair of free throws, tying the ball game at 13-13. As the first half wound down Gay hit a key short jumper along with an inside hoop from Wendler and a jumper from Poehler. The teams were tied at 20 at the half.

The Blackhawks got the offense going on their first possession of the second half with junior Jack Wendler getting a basket and the foul. As Wendler missed the free throw, the Hawks rebounded it and Colin Fritz hit Mason Gay for a three-pointer, giving the Hawks an early 25-20 lead. More offense and defense with many lead changes would be the theme of the second half. Gay would hit another jumper and free throws from Fritz and Poehler, along with a Poehler jumper. As Loyal grabbed the lead, Sherwood came up with another steal and lay-up to get within two. On the next possession, Fritz drove hard for a score, tying the game at 37. A key three by Sherwood gave the Hawks a 41-40 lead, but the Greyhounds then scored the next five points. A Poehler inside score, followed by a pair of free throws from Fritz kept them close. On the last possession of the game for the Hawks, trailing by two, Sherwood drove hard and missed, but he was not denied from grabbing his own rebound and tying the game to push it into overtime at 48-48.

Each team was limited on the number of possessions in overtime, working the clock and playing defense. The Greyhounds scored first, but Sherwood again tied it with a 12 foot jumper. Loyal answered with a pair of free throws to go up 52-50, but a Colin Fritz power slide to the baseline got the game back to even. After a Loyal turnover, the Blackhawks worked the clock down and Sherwood attacked the rim and was fouled. He sank both free throws to put the Hawks up by two with 3.8 seconds on the clock. The Greyhounds last shot did not fall and the Blackhawks won a thrilling game by a 54-52 final.

The Blackhawks shot 13 of 18 on the free throw line and only had 12 turnovers in the 40 minutes played.

Box Score: Sherwood 16 pts, 4 rebs, 3 stls; Poehler 13 pts, 9 rebs, 3 asts, 2 stls; Fritz 10 pts, 3 rebs, 5 asts, 3 stls; Gay 8 pts, 1 asts; Wendler 5 pts, 3 rebs, 1 asts; Baehr 2 pts, 2 rebs; Wells 5 rebs.

Coach's Comments

What a thrilling game for our guys who really trusted each other on both ends of the floor and stayed calm during the game and played for each other. Our defense did a super job of switching and playing help defense. So many big/key plays from each of the guys throughout the game. I am very proud of them for the effort they gave.