By Greg Gielczyk
ROSCOMMON — It was a struggle for the Roscommon boys basketball team for most of its MHSAA Class C district tournament game against Lake City at Roscommon High School on Monday night.
But the Bucks finally pulled away from the Trojans in the second overtime to take a 76-64 victory. Surviving a difficult game against a team determined not to meekly surrender to a team playing on its home floor advances the Bucks to the next round. The Bucks improved to 15-6.
Lake City showed it had come to play right off the bat, opening up a 16-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Bucks outpointed the Trojans, 13-9 in the second quarter to trail by only two points, 25-23 at the half.
Roscommon finally took the lead, 40-37 entering the fourth quarter after outscoring the Trojans, 17-12 in the third. But the Trojans came right back with a 16-13 edge in the fourth to tie the score, 53-53 and force overtime.
Michael Treml opened the first overtime with a big 3-pointer. But the two teams each scored five points in the first overtime which ended with the two teams still tied, 58-58. Treml hit another 3-pointer to start the second OT, the Bucks added another bucket and then finished their scoring at the free throw line.
“It took us a long time to get rolling,” Bucks’ head coach M.J. Ewald said. “They fought hard and had us back on our heels. I don’t know what our deal was. We were in a funk. We didn’t take good care of the ball, we didn’t shoot real well, we didn’t rebound very well early.
“Slowly but surely we were able to get back in the game. We took the lead going into the fourth, then we got behind, 46-40. We had a shot to win it at the end of regulation, but missed our free throws. They started to foul (in the second overtime) and we hit our free throws. We did a good job scoring late.
“I give a ton of credit to Lake City. They came in here and played their tails off. I’m proud of my kids, though, for responding and finding a way to pull it out tonight.”
Kaleb Keipert had a double-double with 24 points and an incredible 22 rebounds. Treml finished with 18 points with four 3-pointers and Gage Sarna added nine. Two sophomores contributed to the win.
Dane Smitz had three points and played awesome defense, according to Ewald. Trey Helliin had five big points in the fourth quarter, hitting a three and a reverse layup.
