Leps Rally to Win in Overtime

It was a memorable start and end to Tuesday’s regular season finale for the La Grange boys basketball team.

Oliver Gunn’s only shot this season went in for a three to begin the game. Then the Leps rallied from 10 points down in the final 3:40 of the game to force overtime and eventually won 67-60.

In their final home game, all five of the Leps seniors (Mason Kleiber, Cole Collier, Oliver Gunn, Scott Davis and Caleb Stokes) started the game.

The biggest surprise of those was Gunn, who hadn’t played all season because he’s been rehabbing a knee injury suffered in football.

Davis won the opening tip and Gunn was passed the ball. He shot from beyond the arc and drained a shot head coach Trent Collier said he’s been practicing every day.

“To get Ollie on the court at the beginning of the game and to have him hit that three was big,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier. “It happened just the way we drew it up.

“He shoots that shot almost nonstop in practice and he hits it, and that’s what kinda gave us that idea. We said if we lose the opening tip we’re going to play defense 5-on-4 and the moment we get it we’re just firing the ball to you and you are letting it fly. That was special for him.”

The crowd went wild, Collier called a time-out and Gunn went back to the bench never See to return.

Despite that epic start to the game, Bellville then took over building a 31-22 lead at halftime.

“We worked press break coming into this game because we expected them to press us,” Coach Collier said. “It took us a little while to get some traction ... At halftime when we were down by nine we talked about how you don’t come back on teams with offense, you do it with defense. If we could get a few stops and scores things could go our way. I could feel the tide turning a little bit.”

But after some back-andforth momentum changes, the Leps were still down 5545 with 3:40 left in the game when Mason Kleiber nailed a three-pointer.

That sparked a 13-1 La Grange run, fueled by Conner Brooks and Caleb Norwood that eventually put the Leps up 58-56. A technical foul on the Bellville head coach also loomed large during that stretch.

But Bellville’s Ashlee Douglas made two free throws with 48 seconds left in the game to tie things. La Grange held the ball for a final try at the buzzer but couldn’t capitalize.

But in overtime the Leps’ 6-foot-9 junior Brandon Mathis took over, scoring six of the Leps nine points in the extra period to clinch the victory.

“It had a whole lot to do with the sideline making sure we were together, they kept us connected and talking,” Mathis said of the comeback. “We came out and did what we had to do.”

Brooks ended up with a team-high 23 for the Leps. Mathis scored 21 points. Norwood and Kleiber scored nine each, Gunn three and Cole Collier two.

The victory improves the Leps’ record to 23-10 overall and now La Grange awaits their first round playoff opponent, either Katy Freeman or Brookshire Royal.

That playoff opener will be next week, details to be determined.

La Grange’s Brandon Mathis dunks the ball against Bellville Tuesday.

Photo by Jeff Wick