Late Free Throw does in Hornets
The North Platte Panthers and the Hamilton Hornets battled it out in the KCI Tournament for the consolation trophy with the Panthers edging out the Hornets on a free throw with 2.7 seconds on the game clock.
North Platte led 14-10 with just a few seconds to play in the first quarter when Korby Ford stole the ball and layed it in for a 14-12 Panther advantage at the end of the quarter.
Early in the second period Penney High went on an 8-2 run causing a North Platte time out with 4:49 on the clock and Hamilton leading 20-16. With 1:36 remaining in the half Mason McFall nailed a 3-pointer increasing the Hornet lead to 28-20 and forcing another Panther time out. Neither team would score the rest of the opening half.
North Platte came out in the 3rd quarter and took the lead back. The quarter ended with McFall hitting a shot beyond the arc to cut the Panther lead to one, 41-40.
With 3:58 played in the 4th quarter and Hamilton trailing 49-44, coach Rick Ross called a Penney time out. With the score unchanged, North Platte called a time out 21 seconds later. The Hornets cut the lead to two, 47-49 with 1:17 to go when Hamilton called another time out. Penney would tie the score at 51, but North Platte possessed the ball and ran the clock down to 12.8 seconds before calling time out. With 2.7 seconds to go, the Hornets were called for a foul on what appeared to be a clean blocked shot. The Panthers hit the first free throw, but missed the second. Telly Harper nearly made a 3/4 court length shot off the back of the rim leaving Hamilton on the short end of a 52-51 final score.
Korby Ford was the games leading scorer with 22 (six 3-pointers). Other scorers for Penney were Mason McFall with 18 (three 3-pointers), Jaran Richman with 8, Telly Harper 2, and Derek Dixon 1. North Platte was led by Anthony Hernandez who had 18 and Andrew Roberts with 17. The Hornets made nine 3-pointers while the Panthers hit eight from beyond the arc.
