The Clarke boys basketball team picked up its second win of the season on Friday at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, 68-67.
And, the Indians did it in dramatic fashion, as freshman Brandyne Olin hit the game-winner on an offensive rebound putback as time expired.
“Brandyne Olin, our freshman, did a great job of following the shot and getting the board, and hit the game winner,” head coach James Larson said.
Clarke led by two late in the game, and EBF hit the first of two free throws, but missed the second. On the miss, Olin gave up an offensive rebound and the putback gave the Rockets a one point lead.
After a Clarke turnover, the Indians fouled to try extending the game. EBF missed the front end of a one-and-one.
This time, Olin gathered the rebound and made an outlet pass to Carlos Tamayo, who found Colin Morris in the middle of the floor. Morris took a 15-foot jumper, but missed.
But Olin followed the play, gathered the offensive rebound and put it back up and in as the horn sounded, giving Clarke the 68-67 win.
“I keep preaching to my guys, ‘next play, next play,’” Larson said. “He’s (Olin) a freshman, and he’s going to make mistakes, but he kept battling and learned from his mistakes.
“Definitely a game we needed to win,” Larson continued. “Our season is coming to an end. Hopefully we can get one of these next two games (against Albia Friday and Lamoni on Feb. 4). That’d be pretty big as well. Just trying to find some kind of momentum going into February going into districts.”
Clarke then dropped an 80-41 game to a tough Pleasantville team on Monday.
“They came out firing for sure,” Larson said. “We tried to play man-to-man, but their big guys are very big. They’re like 6-6 and they’re solid kids. They hurt us inside. I think we hung with them for the first quarter.”
Larson said he tried to mix things up in the second half by playing zone, but that’s when Pleasantville’s outside shooters started to catch fire.
“We kind of picked our poison, and either way we got the poison,” he said.
Freshman Troy Morgan led the Indians with 16 points in the loss.
“Pleasantville is a good team,” Larson said. “Real tough. I think they’ll be pretty good come time for districts. They played a great game tonight. Give them all the credit.”