On Tuesday night, the OPH boys played St. Elmo at Oblong. It was a full night of basketball, with there being a Fresh/Soph, JV, and Varsity game. Things kicked off at five. The Fresh/Soph starters were Rowen, Aaron, Gunner, Bentley, and Owen. The five of them started things off nicely, jumping ahead with a 12-3 lead early in the game. It was a pretty comfortable lead until the 4th quarter when OPH began to stall a bit. St. Elmo hit a few threes, and they cut the lead to within two points. However, OPH persevered and would eventually go on to win.

The JV starters were Callum, Devin, Will, Trevan, and Graydon. This game didn’t go the way we wanted it to. OPH just played too loose with the ball, and St. Elmo scored too much off of turnovers. St. Elmo would go on to win by a comfortable margin.

By the time the Varsity game started at 7:30, the whole gym was packed. The Varsity starters were Max, Rider, Gary, Tucker, and Hayden. It was a dawg fight the whole game, with neither team taking a lead by more than eight the whole game. When it came down to the final minute of the 4th quarter, OPH was down by 2 points. Gary Higgenbotham drove the ball down the lane and was fouled, sending him to the line because we were in bonus. He made both free throws to tie the game. St. Elmo made an attempt at scoring but the OPH defense was too much to handle. The game went into overtime and St. Elmo wound up having a 5 point lead with about a minute left on the clock. Gary made another drive to the basket and got fouled, but he made the shot. AND ONE! He sunk the free throw, cutting St. Elmo’s lead to two.

The OPH defense clutched up again, and we had the ball in our possession with 6.9 seconds left on the clock, still down by 2. Hayden got the ball and dribbled up the court and passed it backwards to Gary who put the three pointer up just as the clock expired. OPH wins! This is now their third win in a row after losing 11 straight.