By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL — Friday’s Valentine’s Day matchup between Mitchell and Loogootee was destined for one team to leave the gym with nothing but a broken heart, as one team would have to head home with another loss added to their season total.
After an incredible effort from both sides that forced the game into two overtimes, the Bluejackets were the ones who walked away with the victory, narrowly defeating the Lions 58-56 in an exciting battle, marking Mitchell’s first win against the school in three years.
Despite the final result, the early going of the game belonged to Loogootee, who jumped out to an early 13-5 lead, led by the play of junior AJ Foster, who scored 11 points in the quarter.
The Bluejackets did not stay down long, eventually storming their way into the game to finish the quarter trailing by just two points, before eventually taking their first lead midway through the second quarter after a three from Austin Mosier.
Mitchell held onto the lead for the remainder of the half and went into the locker room up by a narrow margin of 23-21. Perhaps most pressing for them during the break was finding an answer for Foster, who had 16 points in the half, shooting 67% from the field.
“AJ Foster is a really nice player. He was very efficient,” said Mitchell head coach Clint Roesler. “We tried to throw a lot of bodies at him. We tried to be physical with him. The way the flow of the game was, some of the physicality that we were trying to bring wasn’t working tonight, so we had to adjust to how it was officiated, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.
Despite the Bluejackets’ best efforts, Foster carried on in the third, scoring eight in the period, including a basket late in the quarter to give the Lions the lead once again.
Mitchell struggled early in the quarter, held scoreless for the first five minutes or so, with two free throws from Aiden Pridemore breaking their cold streak. They went on to sink their first basket of the period shortly after, with the two sides eventually heading into the final quarter deadlocked at 29 points each.
For much of the game to this point, the pace had been particularly slow, with Loogootee being perfectly comfortable spending a few minutes on a single possession.
This style of play differs quite a bit from the Bluejackets’ typical way of doing things, where they’re often the ones looking to push the pace, which was something the team had to adjust to.
“We knew it would be classic Loogootee stall ball. It’s not the style of basketball that I like, it’s 100% the exact opposite of what we’re trying to accomplish here, but we knew it was coming,” said Roesler. “Teams that, if we play straight up, maybe have a disadvantage, have to do those things to try to beat us. And they almost did, and that was a credit to their game plan.”
The Lions’ effort to control the speed of the game continued to be successful in the fourth, where they were able to grab control of the lead early via a three from Will Lyon and stay on top of much of the quarter.
After that basket, Mitchell managed to match nearly every point scored by the Lions, but the early deficit in the period was a challenge to overcome in a slow-paced game with few attempts.
With 18.9 seconds left on the clock and trailing by just a point, 41-40, after a layup from Tate Woods, the Bluejackets caught a break, with Lyons missing one of his two free throw attempts, which gave the ball back to Mitchell with a chance to either win or tie the game.
Mosier had the ball on the Bluejackets’ final possession, eventually driving to the hoop with just a few seconds left on the clock, scoring a tough, contested layup to send the game to overtime.
The first overtime period played out much like the fourth quarter, with the two sides trading baskets back and forth, eventually leading to Mitchell being forced to foul to stop the clock with under 20 seconds left to play as they trailed.
Once again, down by one point after a layup from Woods, Lyon was sent to the line for two attempts, but went 1-2, giving the ball back to Mitchell, this time with 15 seconds left, with a chance to tie or win it.
This time, with around five seconds left on the clock, Mosier once again came through for Mitchell. He buried a deep jumper that was initially called a game-winning three but was later ruled a two-point basket, ending the Bluejackets’ brief celebration and sending both teams back to the court for another go at it.
The roles were reversed in the second overtime period, with Mitchell grabbing an early two-possession lead.
With around 30 seconds left on the clock, Loogootee inbounded the ball, once again taking their time to seek out the best possible shot.
Time continued to tick, as the Lions were unable to get a satisfactory look, with the Bluejackets closing each potential avenue, before the possession ending in a steal by Mitchell in the final seconds that secured the victory.
Each time the Bluejackets needed a play down the stretch, it was Mosier that they turned to, with him hitting the equalizing shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime, as well as getting the deflection that led to the final steal in the second OT period.
“We have leaned on Austin as season long. He hasn’t always shown up in scoring column as our leading scorer, but he’s our most consistent guy, and he’s a guy that, no matter if was a bucket or a defensive play, he’s always that guy that seems to be there for us,” said Roesler.
“He has played a lot. He has worked hard, not just at practice, but on his own and moments like this pay off for kids like that, that work really hard and he deserved to have that moment.”
This win is Mitchell’s fifth-straight, now their longest unbeaten stretch of the season.
They’ll have a chance to make it six in a row the following night, welcoming Brown County to The Hive on Saturday.
Despite the Bluejackets heading into that game coming off a tense double OT battle just 24 hours earlier, Roesler expects his team to be up for the challenge.
“I think we’ll be ready. The kids are hungry right now, which is a really good thing, and it’s a really good time to be hungry as we enter the tournament season,” Roesler said. “We’re playing for one another. We want to win for one another, and that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what we want to build here.”
Mitchell Stats
Points: 58 | FGM: 19/41 | FG%: 46.34% | 3PM: 4/15 | 3P%: 26.67% | FTM: 15/22 | FT%: 68.18% | Rebounds: 22 | Team Turnovers: 8
Individual Player Stats for Mitchell:
#40 Nate Robertson – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/4 | FG%: 25.00% | 3PM: 0/1 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/2 | FT%: 0.00% | Rebounds: 6
#12 Carl Chenault – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/2 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
#2 Austin Mosier – Points: 19 | FGM: 5/12 | FG%: 41.67% | 3PM: 3/8 | 3P%: 37.50% | FTM: 6/8 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 4
#1 Aiden Pridemore – Points: 13 | FGM: 5/9 | FG%: 55.56% | 3PM: 0/3 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 2/2 | FT%: 100.00% | Rebounds: 1
#3 Tate Woods – Points: 5 | FGM: 2/4 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 0/2 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 1/2 | FT%: 50.00% | Rebounds: 5
#22 Gavin Robinson – Points: 15 | FGM: 4/9 | FG%: 44.44% | 3PM: 1/1 | 3P%: 100.00% | FTM: 6/8 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 4
#4 Malakai Goodman – Points: | FGM: / | FG%: 0% | 3PM: / | 3P%: 0% | FTM: / | FT%: 0% | Rebounds:
#20 Kaden Mullis – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/1 | FG%: 100.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 1
Loogootee Stats
Points: 56 | FGM: 18/44 | FG%: 40.91% | 3PM: 5/18 | 3P%: 27.78% | FTM: 15/20 | FT%: 75.00% | Rebounds: 22 | Team Turnovers: 12
Individual Player Stats for Loogootee:
#4 Wade Walton – Points: 0 | FGM: 0/2 | FG%: 0.00% | 3PM: 0/0 | 3P%: 0% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 4
#5 AJ Foster – Points: 32 | FGM: 11/19 | FG%: 57.89% | 3PM: 2/5 | 3P%: 40.00% | FTM: 8/10 | FT%: 80.00% | Rebounds: 6
#32 Christian Garcia – Points: 5 | FGM: 2/5 | FG%: 40.00% | 3PM: 1/3 | 3P%: 33.33% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#10 Will Lyon – Points: 12 | FGM: 2/7 | FG%: 28.57% | 3PM: 1/3 | 3P%: 33.33% | FTM: 7/10 | FT%: 70.00% | Rebounds: 3
#22 Cooper Vanhoy – Points: 2 | FGM: 1/7 | FG%: 14.29% | 3PM: 0/6 | 3P%: 0.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
#24 Paxton Arvin – Points: 5 | FGM: 2/4 | FG%: 50.00% | 3PM: 1/1 | 3P%: 100.00% | FTM: 0/0 | FT%: 0% | Rebounds: 3
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