MILLER CITY – A fantastic crowd at Miller City’s J. Harry Leopold Gymnasium saw a three point attempt right before the final buzzer by the Wildcats Alex Ruck go halfway down the basket, but rattled back out, giving the Tinora Rams a thrilling 46-43 win at Miller City.

The Tinora Rams hit the road for their final game in 2024, a trip to Miller City to take on the undefeated Wildcats. Just one loss was in the books between these two squads as the traveling Rams entered at 6-1, and the host ‘Cats were 7-0.

The Wildcats pressure defense, and five points by Andrew Weis, led to multiple Rams turnovers in the initial quarter, however, Tinora trailed by just two after the first stanza 11-9.

Miller City jumped out to a 16-9 lead just 90 seconds into the second quarter on a Will Otto drive and score, increasing that lead to eight at 19-11 with 5:03 in the half.

Adam Spychala started a Rams rally with a driving bucket and then a three pointer. Tinora would outscore the Wildcats 8-0 over the next 3:30, cutting their lead to 19-18, leading to a timeout by Miller City’s Ross Kaufman. The Wildcats would answer the bell, outscoring Tinora in the final 2:30, 5-0 to take a 24-18 lead to the half.

Brendan Barlage would bucket seven points in the second for the Wildcats and lead all scorers with 10 at the half.

Out of the half, Tinora’s Adam Spychala found his range, knocking down three 3 pointers and 10 total points. The Rams defense also tightened the clamps on the Miller City offense, limiting the ‘Cats to just five points in the third quarter. The Tinora offense lit up the scoreboard for 20 points, grabbing a 39-29 lead through three quarters.

As they did in the first half, the Wildcats tightened up the defense to start the fourth quarter, adding full court pressure and again, forcing numerous Tinora turnovers, cutting the Rams lead to 38-31 with 6:26 remaining.

Tinora’s Kris Lymanstall saw the Rams starting to show some fatigue and asked for a timeout with 5:33 on the clock. Miler City kept plugging away at the deficit, closing the gap to 38-34 on a Alex Rup deep three with 4:15 remaining.

Josh Lieb’s steal after a missed Tinora shot, and a assist to Connor Welling put the Rams on top 42-37 with 1:52 on the clock. Lieb followed that up with another assist, this to Alex Homier, the bucked put Tinora ahead 44-38 with 45 seconds on the scoreboard.

Again, the host Wildcats would not go away as Henry Runk drained an NBA three from the right wing, cutting Tinora’s lead to 44-41 with 40.6. Josh Lieb and Alex Homier split free throws down the stretch to give the Rams a 46-43 lead with 17.1 seconds in the final quarter.

Out of a timeout, the Wildcats drove the court, facing a tough Tinora defense, the three pointer by Runk looked good, went into the basket, spinning out to give the Rams a thrilling 46-43 road win. Great defense by Owen Ferrell of Tinora on the final shot.

TINORA 9-9-20-8=46
MILLER CITY 11-13-5-14=43

Tinora scoring; Schaufele 4, Ferrell 2, Willing 9, Homier 11, Lieb 5, Hancock 0, Spychala 15

Miller City scoring: Lammers 0, Barlage 19, Rump 10, Ruck 3, Weis 5, Niese 3, J Otto 2, W Otto 2

Tinora improves to 7-1 and will host Antwerp on Jan 3, 2025

Miller City drops to 7-1 and will Travel to Paulding Saturday night/

The Higbea Embroidery Player of the Game went to Tinora senior, Adam Spychala, what a great game!

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