Joel Scroggie celebrated his 18th birthday by getting 15 points and 6 blocks, the last being a monster stuff of Bryer Noe's layup attempt with 2 seconds left that would have tied the game for Mercer and sent it into overtime. The stuff, which was clean, knocked Noe flat on his back as time expired to preserve Northeast's 35-33 win and Northeast Nodaway's boys picked up their 10th win and advanced in district play last Tuesday.
The game was close all the way, with no team leading by more than 4 at any point during the contest. Grant Widner's 3-pointer from the left corner put Mercer in front 30-28 with 1:57 left, but Garet Jackson, who had only two points up to that point, answered with 1:39 left after getting a pass from Shaun Burns to put Northeast in front 31-30. It was similar to another game that Garet had earlier this year when he was scoreless until getting a drive and hitting a game-winning 3-point play to bail Northeast out against CFX in the closing seconds.
Garet followed with two free throws and Mercer got a traveling call, but Northeast missed the front end of a one and one to open the door; Widner tied it up again at 33 with 35.4 seconds left. Mercer elected to press and Northeast got in trouble as they were able to funnel Shaun Burns to the side with 24 seconds left, but Northeast still had a timeout and used it. They set up a play and Steve Schulte hit Joel Scroggie with 15.4 seconds left to put Northeast up 35-33.
Mercer elected to rush it up the floor, but Joel was there at the other end for his fifth block, stuffing Noe's runner down the middle of the paint. Mercer got the offensive board and had a good weak side look, but Garet Jackson alertly fouled with 2.2 seconds left; Northeast still had fouls to give and it was on the floor. That set up the final heroics.
Besides Scroggie, Steve Schulte had 8 points, Garet Jackson had 7, and Shaun Burns had 5 and four assists. Steve Schulte had 9 tips for Northeast on defense while Garet Jackson had 6 and Shaun Burns 5.
Northeast showed better fight than they did the first time against Stanberry, but they failed to score in the last 3:42 of the first quarter and dug themselves into a 17-7 hole after one. They fell behind 28-7 before getting it going and cutting it back down to 13 at 28-15 on Garet Jackson's 3-pointer. They hung around until early in the fourth quarter, battling a 13 to 17 point deficit until Joel Scroggie fouled out and everything fell apart after that. With Joel Scroggie bottled up by 6'7" Ryan Jensen, Steve Schulte did all he could to carry Northeast to another round, getting 16 points and four 3-pointers. Garet Jackson had 9. Steve had 11 tips on defense while Garet Jackson had 7. Shaun Burns and Joel Scroggie had 5 each.
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