TC Boys vs Deshler
January 10, 2012
The next night saw the Titans hosting one of their biggest rivals, the Deshler Dragons. TC played a nice first half, bolting to a 31-24 lead at the break. However, missed opportunities in the first half came back to haunt the Titans. Deshler chipped away at the Titan lead and took the lead in the 4th quarter. There were several lead changes and ties, and at the end of regulation, the score was tied 43-43. In overtime, Deshler senior Luke Dlouhy put his team on his back with 7 of the Dragon 8 points. Deshler was ahead by three points, but the Titans had the last shot to put it into a second overtime. Unfortunately, a Russ Heitmann three point shot hit the back iron and time ran out as the Titans lost another close game. Coach Johnson said, “We need to learn how to finish teams off. We had a double digit lead there a couple times in the first half and we had the chance to extend that lead even more and we made some really silly decisions that enable Deshler to stay in the ball game. I give Deshler credit, their quickness gave us some problems. But having said that, we still need to make plays to extend our lead. The same thing happened against Wilber-Clatonia. It’s something I’m hoping we can learn from and get better at. I’ve told the kids this numerous times, we’re not that far off from being a pretty darn good team, but until we learn we have to really value each possession, we’re going to struggle.”
(5-6) Thayer Central 16 15 8 4 5- 48
(7-4) Deshler 13 11 12 7 8- 51
