La Grange Boys Fall in Overtime to Brookshire in First Round Thriller

For three quarters of Monday’s playoff opener, the La Grange boys basketball team appeared on their way to winning the program’s first hoops postseason game since 2022.

But after leading by 14 with 6:30 left in the game, it all fell apart.

Brookshire – still down by double digits with under three minutes to go – scored the final 10 points of regulation and rallied for a stunning 63-59 overtime victory over the Leps.

“We had some foul trouble that put us in a bind,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier. “We just turned the ball over too much in the end. They jumped into that little press, they had some length. We made a couple of bad decisions and it just snowballed.”

Cordale Knapik scored a team-high 17 points Monday for La Grange, which ends its season with a 23-10 record. Brookshire improved to 13-18 with the win.

“We’re all disappointed. We wanted to go farther, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for us,” said Knapik, one of five Leps seniors who played in their final game Monday. “It’s off to track, I guess.”

The other La Grange seniors were Clayton Cooper, Devonte McKenzie, Tre Supak and Camden Coltrain.

“It’s a heartbreaking way for those seniors to lose,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier. “They play so hard and we love every one of them ... I thought we played really well for a period of time. We just couldn’t quite get it under control enough at the end to pull it out.”

See Junior Oliver Gunn scored 15 for the Leps. Sophomores Brandon Mathis and Conner Brooks each scored 10.

La Grange jumped out to a 19-8 lead after the first quarter in this one and held that double digit lead into the fourth quarter.

After Gunn hit a free-throw with 6:30 left in the game the Leps led 49-35.

Amidst a flurry of Leps turnovers, Brookshire scored six straight points, but a Gunn lay-up with 2:50 left put the Leps back up by ten at 51-41 and La Grange’s victory still seemed probable.

But Brookshire scored 10 unanswered points (including a couple of putbacks following missed shots) and tied the game at 51-51 with 13 seconds left.

The Leps got off a couple of tough looks in those final 13 seconds but couldn’t win it.

In overtime Brookshire got a couple of quick baskets and never trailed, eventually outscoring La Grange 12-8 in the extra period. Brooks scored four in overtime. A Knapik bucket cut the Brookshire lead to 59-57 with a minute to play but the Leps never got any closure as the Falcons dominated on the offensive boards late for a pair of putbacks.

Foul trouble certainly was a factor for the Leps. Cooper fouled out in the fourth quarter and Knapik, Gunn and Mathis were playing with four fouls. But Brookshire also had two of its starters foul out.

Monday’s loss doesn’t diminish what was otherwise anther strong season for La Grange basketball.

The Leps won their third consecutive district title – but that playoff victory drought now extends to a third season.

“We have to find a way to get over the hump in the first round of the playoffs,” Coach Collier said. “We won 23 ballgames, a district title and nobody can take that away from you, but we sure would like to be playing another game.”

2/18/25

Brookshire boys 63, La Grange 59

La Grange 19 15 12 5 8 – 59 Brookshire 8 15 12 16 12– 63 LG scoring: Oliver Gunn 15, Conner Brooks 10, Cordale Knapik 17, Mason Kleiber 5, Camden Coltrain 2, Brandon Mathis 10.