Brayden Klein sinks game-winner to lift LaMoille over St. Bede in overtime

LAMOILLE - Brayden Klein saw an opening and took it.

The LaMoille senior took a lob pass at the 3-point line on an inbounds play with 14.1 seconds left, turned to the basket and stepped just inside the free throw line and banked in a twisting shot to give the Lions what would be the game-winning basket in a 79-75 win over Bureau County rival St. Bede.

Klein was nearly speechless talking about his game-winner.

“No words. I didn’t even know it was going to go in. Once I saw it go in, I was in disbelief. Wild thing,” he said. “Saw a shot and I took it.”

Klein and LaMoille coach Chance Blumhorst said it was the kind of win that will give the Lions (7-21) a big boost heading toward the postseason.

“We’ve had a rough season, it’s just a great feeling to beat a good, nice school like that,” Klein said. ““They’re not in our conference, but you know it’s always a good game when we play them. We’ve faced good schools before, but never came close to this.”

“This might be our best win in my three years,” Blumhorst said. “The boys jsut stuck it our and grinded it out. Can’t say enough what they did tonight.”

The Bureau County rivals played to a 67-67 stalemate at the end of regulation. The Lions took three leads, but each time the Bruins answered, helped with back-to-back 3-pointers by Gino Ferrari and then Halden Hueneburg with 0:55 remaining in overtime to tie it 75.

LaMoille’s Connor Deering took a charge wth 35.6 left, setting up the heroics by Klein. Blumhorst said the play was not necessarily drawn up for Klein.

“We had actually drawn it up for a screen up the free throw lane and read it and watch for a diver in the lane, but he saw a lane and he took it,” Blumhort said. “The kid works every day on going down hill and getting to the rim. The way the boys were playing, I was comfortable of the ball being in anybody’s hands.

“(Tate) Sundberg hits two big shots he normally doesn’t take and he steps up and hit shots. I just felt like anybody tonight I was confident in getting a shot off. Always confident when it’s Brayden and Tyler, though.”

Billhorn added two free throws to put the game out of reach.

“That’s our first game in overtime and once we got there, I was confident we’d win,” Billhorn said.

Billhorn (27) and Klein (24) combined for 51 points for LaMoille.

Jake Migliorini led the Bruins (12-16) with 21 points with Hueneburg adding 16 and Ferrari 12.

LaMoille gained a 14-9 lead in the first quarter on 3-pointers by Ed Fry and Klein.

St. Bede closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run, taking an 18-14 lead at quarter’s end on a putback by Migliorini.

The Bruins increased their lead to seven at 26-19 halfway through the second quarter, but the Lions went to work on the defensive end.

After a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Billhorn, Klein and Cody Winn stole the ball and cashed in layups. Billhorn scored off another Lions' steal to give the Lions a 28-26 lead with 2:51 left in the first half.

Jhett Cowser banked in a 3-pointer from the right corner on a broken play at the buzzer to send the Lions to the lockerroom with a 36-31 edge.

“One thing we’ve been working on that I’m really proud of is, we’re still working through our system and playing even when plays fall apart. Jhett’s play at the end of the half was a completely broken play. We ran it to the wrong side, but they kept moving. That’s what I tell them, ‘Keep moving without the basketball and good things will happen.’ And that’s kind of what happened on all of our big shots there.”

The Lions scored the first seven points of the third quarter to open up a 43-31 lead, their biggest of the night.

‘This is a tough one. We get ourselves in holes and got to keep fighting back,“ St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said. ”We’re pretty good at fighting back, but we just got to get ourselves out of that position."

Hueneburg hit two straight treys, Migliorini scored on a drive and a putback and Ferrari scored off a reflection to draw the Bruins within 49-45. Ferrari scored again on the break and added a free throw before Gus Barr’s 3-pointer pulled St. Bede within 53-52.

Billhorn scored on a drive with two seconds left to give the Lions a 55-52 lead at the end of three quarters.

Migliorini picked the Lions' pocket for a steal and layup to put the Bruins back in front at 57-55. They got a pair of free throws each from Migliorini and Hueneburg to go up 67-61 only to have the Lions score the last six points of regulation to tie the game at 67.