North Union’s Preston Crabtree goes up strong to the basket Friday evening against Urbana. The Wildcats snapped a five-game losing streak with a 48-46 win over the Hillclimbers.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
––––
The 2018-19 high school basketball season has been one in which nothing, absolutely nothing, has come easy for the North Union Wildcats.
Going into Friday evening’s home game against Urbana, NU was in the midst of a five-game losing streak that included an unbelievable stretch of bad luck.
North Union’s misery included a triple-overtime setback, a single OT loss and three games that were lost on buzzer-beating shots.
This time, though, the Wildcats turned the tables. They survived a missed Urbana three-pointer at the final horn to win, 48-45.
North Union appeared to be in pretty good shape with 1:52 left to play in the game.
Joel Krebehenne sank a pair of free throws that gave the Wildcats a 43-36 lead.
Again, nothing has come easy for NU this season and this game was no exception.
Several careless turnovers resulted in Hillclimber buckets that narrowed the gap to 43-42 with 47.3 seconds on the timer.
The free throw line nearly always comes into play during tight games of this nature.
The Wildcats have had their share of troubles at the charity stripe, but not on this night.
Free throws from Connor Terrill gave North Union a 47-42 lead.
Urbana’s Isaiah Fonseca rushed down the floor and buried a flying three-pointer that cut NU’s lead to 47-45 with 13.2 seconds to play.
Fonseca then flew in to swipe the ball away from the Wildcats, but Urbana missed a potentially game-tying shot.
Harley Day snared the rebound for North Union and was fouled on the play.
The Wildcat post player was awarded a pair of free throws since NU was in the double bonus.
The first offering failed to find the mark, but Day connected on the second shot to give the Wildcats a 48-45 margin.
Urbana quickly moved the ball down the floor to 6-7 forward Grant Hower.
He dribbled out beyond the three-point arc and lofted another game-tying try toward the bucket.
This time, though, the Wildcats benefitted from a last-second shot that didn’t fall as they upped their record to 7-6.
It’s safe to say that NU coach Brian Terrill was breathing a sigh of relief after the contest.
“Night in and night out, we’ve been in most of our games,” he said. “We play really hard, but at times, we’ve struggled to finish.
“It was different tonight because we hit some free throws and got possession of a lot of 50-50 balls during the final three minutes of the game.”
The beginning of the contest did not give an indication of how exciting the end would be.
The Wildcats have struggled out of the gate in many games and this one played along that line.
North Union’s offense was virtually non-existent during the opening eight minutes, as a free throw from Terrill and a basket by Day accounted for its only offense.
The Hillclimbers didn’t exactly light up the board either as they carried an 8-3 lead into the second quarter.
Both teams shook off the offensive shackles a bit during the ensuing period.
However, neither blew up the numbers as the Hillclimbers took a 20-17 edge at halftime.
Trevyn Feasel sank a couple of free throws and Preston Crabtree hit a jumper as the Wildcats (who will travel to Bellefontaine on Tuesday) took a 21-20 lead in the third set.
There were stalemates at points 21, 23 and 25 as nether squad could generate any separation.
A free throw by Marion Krebehenne gave Urbana a 26-25 edge with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.
After a quick exchange of possessions, Feasel came up with a steal and took the ball to the hoop.
His basket sent the Wildcats into the fourth quarter with a 27-26 lead.
Crabtree knocked down a trifecta to pad North Union’s margin at 30-26 to begin the final eight minutes of action.
Urbana, though, regained the upper hand at 31-30 on a bucket by Fonseca.
Joel Krebehenne’s stickback returned a 32-31 edge to NU, but Marion Krebehenne, a cousin to the NU Krebehenne, converted a defensive theft into a 33-32 Climber lead.
The Wildcats regained the upper hand on Day’s basket and a later three-pointer from Crabtree gave the Wildcats a little breathing room at 39-33 as the clock neared the four-minute mark.
Day’s basket and a pair of shots from the free throw line by Krebehenne pushed NU out to its 43-36 lead.
There was no relaxing the rest of the way, however, until Urbana’s final missed shot at the buzzer sealed the win for North Union.
While the Wildcats’ .500-plus record may not look all that impressive on paper, Terrill knows it doesn’t tell the complete story of their season.
“That record is deceiving,” he said. “We’re better than our record indicates, but in a way, the games we’ve lost and the testing they’ve brought could help us down the road.”
North Union
Crabtree 6-0-14, Feasel 3-3-9, Day 3-1-7, Terrill 1-5-7, J. Krebehenne 2-2-6, Wiley 1-0-3, Vernon 1-0-2, Webb 0-0-0. Totals 17-11-48.
Three-point goals: Crabtree 2, Wiley 1.
Urbana
Fonseca 4-3-12, M. Krebehenne 3-5-11, Rooney 4-0-10, Edley 2-0-5, Hower 2-0-4, Taylor 1-0-3. Totals 16-8-45.
Three-point goals: Rooney 2, Fonseca 1, Edley 1, Taylor 1.