Northeast Nodaway boys got all three of their big men back Friday, and one of them, James Burns, played his best game of the year. And yet they still needed a miracle finish in regulation in order to beat Stanberry 53-52 in overtime Friday. Coach Charlie Burch was the first to say that his team was fortunate to win. With the return of three players to the lineup, there was bound to be a learning curve as the players were getting used to each other again, and such was the case Friday night.
Northeast Nodaway was seemingly finished after Stanberry made two free throws with 16.9 seconds left to put themselves up 46-42, but the Bluejays, who had turned the ball over on their last three possessions, brought the ball down the court really quickly and found Colby Wiederholt all alone for a seven-footer with 8.8 seconds left to make it a two-point game. Josh Wideman had driven the lane and had kicked it to Wiederholt for the bucket. When Stanberry missed two straight free throws, that left the door open. Wideman took full advantage as he brought the ball up the court really quickly and found Marshall Coffelt all alone under the basket for a layup at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
The bucket was the first for Coffelt, and he was not done. The Bluejays fell behind by two, but Coffelt made a move around a defender to tie the game and then hit a shot from the top of the key with 1:30 left to put Northeast up 51-48. Cody Luke scored from inside to make it 51-50, but after a Northeast turnover with 40 seconds left, Stanberry missed three tries to take the lead and then Tyler Davis hit two free throws to put Northeast up 53-50. Cody Luke hit a putback to make it 53-52, and then with 15.1 seconds left, Northeast threw away the inbounds pass to give the Bulldogs a chance to win it at the end. Luke took the ball and drove right down the middle of the lane, right at Northeast's big men and threw up a layup which rolled halfway around the rim before dropping out, and Northeast Nodaway was home free.
Northeast got all three of their big men back. Tyler Davis, playing at half strength on his injured ankle, still was a force as he put up 15 points. James Burns matched Davis with 15 points and played his best game of the year; Coach Burch said that Burns had a lot of potential and that the best was yet to come from him.
The game was very evenly matched, as Stanberry was the superior ball handling team and made better decisions on the floor, but routinely could not finish shots against the taller Bluejays; Burns, Davis, and Farnan all altered a good percentage of everything thrown up. Stanberry led 8-2 in the early going before Davis hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to spark a 7-0 run that put Northeast back in front. Neither team led by more than two until the three minute mark of the second quarter, when Davis hit another 3-pointer and Burns added a putback; Colby Wiederholt would connect with a baseline 3-pointer which gave Northeast its largest lead of the game at 24-17. But Stanberry chipped away thanks to their outside shooting and caught the Bluejays by the end of the third quarter. They led for much of the fourth until Bobby Welch hit a pair of clutch free throws with 1:56 left to tie it at 42.
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