VELMA — The conference championship was put out of reach for Velma-Alma after the Comets’ home loss to Bray-Doyle Friday night. But the Comets did not dwell on the loss and in turn got back on track with a 56-53 win over Comanche Saturday night.
Velma-Alma improved to 16-4 with the win and had four players score in double figures with freshman Dallen Mercer leading the way with 14. Comanche fell to 4-9 and is in the midst of playing six games in eight days.
The Comets took control early. Frank Johnson hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring and Mercer finished the first quarter with six points. Velma-Alma led 15-8 going into the second quarter and pushed its lead to 27-16.
Alex Tuttle scored four of the Indians’ next eight points as Comanche pulled within three at halftime.
“The last two minutes of the first half hurt us,” Comet coach Kenny Bare said. “I looked at our chart and we had seven turnovers in our last nine possessions. Basketball is a game of runs and they had a good one there to end the half.”
Eric Brownlee tied the game with a trey early in the third quarter and his jumper with 3:09 remaining in the quarter gave the Indians a 33-31 lead.
Mercer tied the game again with a layup and the game continued to be a back-and-forth battle to the end.
The Comets took a 45-41 lead, but Clayton Bennett scored six straight points to give Comanche the lead back.
With the Indians leading 51-49, Bare called an alley-oop on their next offensive set. Johnson spread out to the right wing and Dillon Dennis ran around to the right side of the basket. Dennis caught Johnson’s pass and got fouled going up but still managed to make the lay-up. His free throw gave Velma-Alma a one point lead.
“I thought guys on both teams stepped up and made plays,” said Bare. “The alley-oop to Dennis was big to give us the lead back. That was a big momentum shifter. Frank made a good pass and Dillon had a good finish and was strong enough to make the bucket and get the foul and make the free throw to give us the lead.”
Velma-Alma led 56-53 when Dennis stole an errant Indian pass. He was fouled and missed both free throws, but Comanche’s shot at the buzzer missed.
“We knew this game would come down to who played the hardest,” Comanche coach Nick Price said. “I thought we played harder or just as hard the last two-and-a-half quarters, but the bad thing was we played bad the first quarter-and-a-half.”
Dennis finished the night with 13 points. Trenten Files had 11 and Johnson added 10 for the Comets. Bennett and Tuttle each had 14 for the Indians and Olheiser added 13.
— Ben Whitehead is a sports writer for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 255-5354, Ext. 165, or via e-mail at ben.whitehead@duncanbanner.com.
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