Cougars fall to SES in double overtime
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The Centre High School boys' varsity basketball team well may have played the most exciting game of the season when they opened Friday at home against 3A Southeast of Saline.
The Trojans discovered the Cougars weren't about to give them an easy win. They put up a fierce defense and made scoring plays to keep themselves in the game.
They were down 4-10 in the first quarter when Bryant Gutsch made a three-pointer and Kevin Mueller and Seth Jirak each scored a basket. Centre led, 11-10, with 2:50 remaining in the quarter. After baskets by Dustin Burnett and Gutsch, the Cougars led 15-12 at the end of the first quarter.
SES went ahead by two late in the second quarter and led, 25-27, at halftime. The score was 38-35 in favor of SES at the end of the third quarter.
The Cougars battled back in the fourth to tie the game, 47-47, with 2:26 remaining in regulation play. There were many turnovers as the ball passed from one team to the other.
Southeast stole the ball in the last few seconds but missed two lay-up attempts to put the game into overtime.
The two teams traded basket-for-basket in the four minutes allotted to overtime, scoring six points each, resulting in a 53-53 tie.
By this time, the Cougars were exhausted for lack of a deep bench. They played hard, but in the second overtime were able to score just two points compared to 10 by SES.
They walked away with an eight-point loss but Centre fans thought it was a great game and they had done their best considering the odds.
Dustin Burnett led scoring with 22 points, including the eight Cougar points in the two overtimes. He was followed by Bryant Gutsch with 13.
Alfonse Klenda was leading rebounder, with 10. He also took a charge. Burnett had four assists.
The junior varsity was swamped by SES, 82-36.
The Trojans got off to an 18-4 start in the first quarter and kept piling up points. The Cougars' best quarters were the second with 12 points and the fourth with 14.
Ben Krause led scoring for Centre with 12 points, followed by James Weber with 10 and Zach Slayden with nine. Konley Harding added four and Kacey Hanschu two.
The varsity played Herington Tuesday in preseason tournament play.
