By Mark Saluke
GREENTOWN — Two teams hovering at .500 and still seeking a first Mid-Indiana Conference win sounded like an intriguing matchup for basketball fans when Eastern and Maconaquah met Friday night.
Turns out, it was. Through 14 lead changes and 13 ties, the Braves and Comets battled to a draw at each of the first three stops. Trailing 54-52 with :08 remaining in regulation, Maconaquah’s Curtis Hyde grabbed a rebound off a missed Eastern free throw, drove the length of the floor, and swished a mid-range jumper to send the game into overtime.
In the extra session, Eastern outscored Maconaquah 12-8 to take a 66-62 win. While neither team shot particularly well from the free throw line in the contest, the Comets’ 8 of 9 freebies in the OT were the difference maker.
“We had opportunities, just like they did, to put the icing on the cake in regulation,” Eastern coach Duane Keisling said. “I don’t think I can go back to a game where there were that many free throw attempts by each team. It sure is nice to be shooting that many in a game, but we’re fortunate to be getting out of here with a win just because we were able to shoot a little better of a percentage than they did.”
Eastern (4-3, 1-2 MIC) shot 21 of 35 from the line while Mac (4-5, 0-2 MIC) converted 16 of 31, including 8 of 16 in the fourth quarter and 1 of 6 in OT.
“I could give a laundry list of things that let this slip away, but what it really comes down to is something as simple as hitting free throws,” Maconaquah coach Luke Zartman said. “It’s our Achilles’ heel. When you shoot 9 of 22 from the line in the final two periods, you don’t usually win ballgames.
“We didn’t hit free throws and we didn’t defend Joey Price well. We let him get to the basket way too many times.”
Price provided much more than a spark off the bench for Eastern. The Comet sophomore’s performance more closely resembled an explosion as he finished with a double-double, notching career-high’s in points (24) and rebounds (10).
Maconaquah had just taken a four-point, 15-11 lead when Price checked in, scoring the Comets’ final four points of the first quarter to knot the game at 15.
“Talk about a nice boost off the bench,” Keisling said. “He just had a fantastic game, and he’s really been coming along the past few games now. And being a sophomore he should only get better.”
Price continued his personal run to open the second frame, scoring the Comet’s first nine points of the period. Joby Renbarger’s hoop at 1:48 gave Eastern the game’s largest lead, a seven-point 26-19 cushion before the Braves closed out the half with five points from Nick George and a bucket from Hyde to make it a 26-26 game at intermission.
After a third quarter featuring six lead changes, the Braves and Comets headed into the final eight minutes of regulation locked up at 38-38. The lead changed hands four more times in the first four minutes of the quarter before Eastern tried to pull away.
With Maconaquah leading 43-42, Eastern went on a 10-2 run with five of those points coming courtesy of Price, to build the lead back up to seven, 52-45, with :58 to play.
George hit two treys around a Hyde free throw while Eastern shot 2 of 7 from the line in the final minute of regulation, setting up Hyde’s final shot to send the game into the extra session.
“We had a lot of things that didn’t go our way and a lot of adversity thrown at us,” Zartman said. “But we never gave up, and that’s a positive we can take from a night like this.”
Renbarger also notched a double-double for Eastern with 12 points and 11 boards, as did Hyde for the Braves with a 21-point, 12-rebound effort. George led all scorers with 25 points.
