Peetz hangs on to win playoff opener

 STERLING, Colo. – After allowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead dissolve into a one-point deficit with just under three seconds left in the game, Peetz's Cody Wilson tried on the hero's cape and found it a snug fit.

After receiving an inbounds pass from Bradey Holtz with 2.6 seconds left, Wilson pump faked, stepped around his defender and put up the winning shot while being fouled as the No. 4 Bulldogs slipped past the fifth seeded Pawnee Coyotes 52-50 in a quarterfinal game of the 1A North Central playoffs at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling Tuesday night. For good measure, Wilson followed with the foul shot to complete a three-point play.

The win sends the Bulldogs (12-8) into the semifinals against the No. 1 Fleming Wildcats (15-3) at NJC on Friday at 4 p.m. Win or lose, Peetz will play on Saturday in either the championship or third-place game.

In the other quarterfinal games, the second seeded Prairie Mustangs (13-7) eliminated the No. 7 Briggsdale Falcons (1-19) 64-34 and No. 3 Heritage Christian (11-9) dumped No. 6 Weldon Valley (4-16) 71-30. Prairie and Heritage Christian will meet on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The championship game is slated for 8:30 p.m. on Saturday with the third-place game scheduled for 5:30.

While the Bulldogs were coasting along throughout parts of both halves, the Coyotes refused to knuckle under. Four straight points by Wilson in the second quarter helped put Peetz up by 12 points. By the halftime horn, however, the lead had deteriorated to a scant four points at 26-22.

"Coach was telling us we don't have a killer instinct and maybe he's right," said Casey Barrett who led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points. "But like he said, a win is a win and that's the important thing this time of year."

The Bulldogs' growl reemerged in the third quarter in the form of a seven-point run which put them up by 11, 38-27. The run was powered by bank shot and a pair of free throws by Garrin Cox with Holtz adding a three ball in between.

Though the Coyotes managed to whittle the lead back to six, Casey Barrett dropped a three bomb through the hole and Logan Sircy converted a layup on Barrett's pass. The Sircy deuce gave Peetz back its 11-point advantage after 24 minutes 45-34.

Over the first three minutes of the final stanza, however, Pawnee filed the lead down to three points causing a change in strategy for the Bulldogs. With an occasional pass to Jordan Nelson, who immediately fired it back, Holtz dribbled the ball behind the arc for nearly two minutes. Pawnee finally swiped the ball and Kip Shoemaker made it a one-point game at 45-44.

"It wasn't intentionally just a stall out," said Bulldogs' head coach Jim Gardiner. "It was our intention to get a layup or nothing. We wanted to take some time off the clock sure, because they had taken the momentum from us. But most of all I wanted to see us take a good shot."

The big blow for the Coyotes came when Owen Wahlert rattled the twine and the Peetz faithful all in one stroke when he hit from downtown with 26 seconds left. The Wahlert three ball gave Pawnee its first lead of the game at 50-49. Shortly after a scary moment in which Barrett hit the floor hard, Wilson did his thing. Barrett soon shook off the blow and got back in the game.

"It was a set play. I was supposed to follow the guy in front of me and get open," said Wilson who took the Holtz inbounds feed from just right of the basket near the baseline. "I believed I could make that shot. I had no doubt about it."

Wilson followed Barrett on the score sheet with 12 points while Sircy added nine.