Clyde fends off Lakota in final seconds

KANSAS — Clyde looked to have things wrapped up.The Fliers led by 11 points with 26 seconds to play and even by eight with 12 seconds left.Yet, they needed a good look at the 3 at the buzzer by Lakota to miss to fend off the Raiders.Avery Shilling's potential game-tying triple as time expired was off, allowing Clyde to escape with a tough 67-64 SBC crossover win Wednesday."I was happy with the fact that we're learning how to win," Clyde coach Jared Shetzer said. "This is a group that's been through it, but they haven't won a lot. I talked about that the past few years as an assistant that we weren't ready to win. I feel like this was good. I could take this and be negative and saw we almost gave the game away. I'm going to flip it to the positive and say we're 1-0."We had to learn a lesson. We were able to win and learn the lesson rather than lose and learn the lesson."The Fliers (1-0) led throughout the fourth quarter, but really cranked it up late to build what mounted to be a just-enough lead.Ahead 58-54, Oscar Webb hit a 3 and after a defensive stop, Brennen Wilson scored for Clyde. Later, two free throws by Webb pushed the Fliers' lead to 66-55.But, the Raiders (1-1) went far from quietly.Colten Kelbley hit a 3 and was fouled. He made the free throw to make it 66-59. After Jackson Dashner split two free throws for Clyde, Grant Scherger connected on a 3-pointer to cut the Clyde lead to 67-62 with 11 seconds left."I can't say enough about the way they fought," Lakota coach Adam Gnepper said. "We had 10 seconds left and I told them not to foul if they got it in bounds. They took it upon themselves and challenged themselves. I told them they had to steal the inbounds pass and score or else the game was over. They did it and then we got another one."Lakota used its last timeout and stole in the inbounds pass, which Kelbley quickly scored on. Clyde inbounded and turned the ball over near midcourt.The Raiders had to go with it and the pass to Shilling in the corner allowed the junior to get off a good look, but it was off, allowing Clyde to breathe a sigh of relief."This is a new style for these kids, so they're trying to figure out how hard they have to play," Shetzer said. "We played 10 guys tonight and have three other guys coming. With that being said, we've only had a handful of practices. Even though we're playing this up-tempo and pressing style and playing really fast on offense, we're doing it in spurts. We're not doing it for four quarters yet."The Fliers used a big second quarter to grab the lead. Tied at 15 after eight minutes and ahead just 20-18, Clyde ripped off the next 12 points to go up 32-18.The Fliers led by as many as 15 in the quarter and were up 37-24 at halftime. Clyde's frantic pace forced Lakota into 17 first-half turnovers."We knew how they were going to play," Gnepper said. "We thought if we could control tempo even a little bit and limit turnovers, we'd have a chance. Obviously the first half we really struggled turning the ball over. Early on, it was being careless and having fumbly hands in the half-court. In the second quarter, we turned it over against their press."Lakota hung around in the third quarter, getting within 40-34 with 5:38 to go in the quarter after consecutive triples by Kelbley.Clyde used its free-flowing 3-point offense to respond as Webb and Aric Kauble nailed 3s to make it 46-34.It was all part of a big night from beyond the arc. The Fliers made 14 3-pointers, but needed 42 attempts to get there."We talk about trying to hit some goals offensively and we only hit one of them, which was the 3-pointers," Shetzer said. "We shot far too many of them, but the good news is we made 14 of them. We didn't get anything going to the basket really until the second half."The Raiders used a 11-3 run over the next 8:08 to slice within 49-45 after a triple by Kelbley.Kelbley led Lakota with 20 points while Nick Elchert added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Max Nordhaus grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Raiders."We have good shooters and they're going to make shots," Gnepper said. "It's a matter of taking care of the ball so we can get those shots. The more we get, the more we're going to score. We scored 40 points in the second half. We're going to score."Wilson's 15 points and nine rebounds paced Clyde, who also got 14 points from Webb and 13 points from Carter.The Fliers played without Brayden Olson, Cedric Messer, and Cayden Perkins. The three seniors were all starters last year. Shetzer hopes Messer will be back Saturday for a non-league game at Ashland while Olson and Perkins are both dealing with football injuries and could be back in the next week or two."That little spurt we saw in the second quarter was great," Shetzer said. "We want to see those spurts again in the first, third and fourth quarters. When those things start happening, we'll be in a good place." Clyde 67, Lakota 64Clyde (1-0): Jackson Dashner 0 1-6 1, Mason Flewelling 3 0-0 8, Oscar Webb 5 2-2 14, Price Carter 4 2-7 13, Brennen Wilson 6 0-1 15, Michael Scruggs 2 0-0 5, Chase Castle 0 2-2 2, Aric Kauble 3 0-0 9. TOTALS 23 7-18 67Lakota (1-1): Avery Shilling 4 2-5 10, Colten Kelbley 6 3-3 20, Nick Elchert 6 0-2 14, Blayse Beard 2 0-4 4, Max Nordhaus 2 2-4 6, Grant Scherger 4 0-0 10. TOTALS 24 7-18 64Clyde 15 22 12 18 — 67Lakota 15 9 16 24 — 64Three-point goals: Clyde 14 (Carter 3, Wilson 3, Kauble 3, Flewelling 2, Webb 2, Scruggs); Lakota 9 (Kelbley 5, Elchert 2, Scherger 2)