BLANCHESTER — Brayden Sipple’s basket with 25 seconds left completed Blanchester’s comeback from nine points down in the fourth quarter in a 65-64 win over Georgetown.
Blanchester trailed 62-53 with 5:25 left and trailed by as many as 14 in the second half.
Sipple, who committed to Cedarville University on Friday, finished with 39 points and 11 rebounds.
While Sipple’s scoreline will get most of the attention, it was his supporting cast that hit the big shots Blanchester needed late.
“We told them at halftime, ‘You’ve got to shake off whether this is new to you or not, and if you want to win bad enough, you guys can chip away at it,’” BHS head coach Adam Weber said. “I was so proud of them.”
Trailing by nine, Colton Wilson knocked down a three to pull Blanchester within six.
Following a Blaise Burrows free throw, Logan Heitzman scored to pull the Wildcats to within five, 63-58, with 3:41 left.
“This group is going to be a little different in terms of offensive firepower, but they can make up for it with effort,” Weber said. “They stuck a couple of big shots that absolutely lifted some weight off Brayden.”
Sipple scored the next five, including an and-one with 2:37 left that tied the game at 63. It was the first time the score was level since 2-2.
After a Georgetown miss, Blanchester started an offensive set with two minutes left. With the G-Men in a zone, the Wildcats passed the ball around for around 75 seconds.
Carson Miles gave himself a chance to put the G-Men back in front. He picked off a pass and was off to the races. However, he missed the layup with 43 seconds left, and Blanchester grabbed the rebound.
Just 18 seconds later, Sipple put Blanchester in front 65-63.
“(Georgetown) did everything they could to try to shut Brayden down,” Weber said. “They did everything they could and he still put up monster numbers. It’s a testament to how powerful it is to have him.”
Miles had a shot to tie the game after being fouled with 1.7 seconds left. He missed the first free throw and made the second.
Georgetown fouled Bryce Highlander, who missed the front-end of the one-and-bonus. Nate Kratzer got the rebound for the G-Men but couldn’t get a shot off in time.
Kratzer led Georgetown with 23 points. Miles added 18. After the G-Men made 7 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first half, they missed all eight three-point shots in the second half.
The win was the 11th straight home win over National Division opponents. Blanchester’s last home loss to a division foe was on Dec 14, 2018, 69-66 against Clermont Northeastern.
SUMMARY
Friday, Dec. 4, 2020
At Blanchester High School
Blanchester 65, Georgetown 64
G^19^23^11^11^^64
B^12^20^18^15^^65
(64) GEORGETOWN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Carson Miles 5-2-6-18, Ryland Hayslip 0-0-2-2, Blake Tolle 3-0-1-7, Joshua Galley 1-0-2-4, Blaise Burrows 1-0-5-7, Aiden McGinnis 1-1-0-3, Nate Kratzer 6-4-7-23. TOTALS 17-7-23-64.
(65) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Bryce Sipple 2-1-1-6, Bryce Highlander 1-1-0-3, Hunter Hartmann 2-1-3-8, Gabe McVey 2-0-0-4, Brayden Sipple 13-3-10-39, Colton Wilson 1-1-0-3, Logan Heitzman 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 22-7-14-65.
FIELD GOALS: G 17/47 (Kratzer 6/14, Miles 5/12); B 22/48 (Bra. Sipple 13/24)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: G 7/22 (Kratzer 4/10); B 7/25 (Bra. Sipple 3/9)
FREE THROWS: G 23/29 (Kratzer 7/8, Miles 6/7, Burrows 5/6); B 14/15 (Bra. Sipple 10/10)
REBOUNDS: G 25 (Kratzer 9, Burrows 7); B 32 (Bra. Sipple 11, Bry. Sipple 3, Wilson 3, Heitzman 3)
ASSISTS: G 8 (Miles 3, Burrows 3); B 8 (Highlander 3)
STEALS: G 4; B 4
BLOCKED SHOTS: G 0; B 2
TURNOVERS: G 9; B 14
