Coyotes edge Creek Valley

The top shooters on both sides were slowed by lingering mid-week illness. And in the back of their minds, players on each team realized that tough opponents waited on Saturday, as well. None of it mattered on Friday night, though, when rivals Creek Valley and Potter-Dix sparred over a grueling, draining 32 minute span.

“It’s always fun when these two teams get together,” Coyotes’ guard Bryant Knigge pointed out. “Any game can go either way.”

Potter-Dix emerged from the fray with a 60-53 home win. But “frantic” may have been a more appropriate measure of the finish than “fun.”

Twice during the second half Potter-Dix stretched out a 9 point advantage—once on a baseline drive by Knigge and the next when Jake Johnson sank two from the line. Twice the Storm’s Colin Brot yanked the hosts back to reality, netting a put back and converting on a sensational, twisting jumper.

Yet from the end of the first period, when the rivals locked at 17-17, it had been the Coyotes’ game. They still had some breathing space after Johnson hit another free throw to open the fourth quarter to nudge Potter-Dix ahead 46-41.

The tone changed, however, when Brot answered by taking a kick out pass from Maverick Widdowson and knocking down his third three-pointer of the night.

“During practice coach said I had good form,” the big sophomore explained of his shots from distance. “They just started to go in.”

Brot lit up the scoreboard with 10 in the second half, a team high 19 overall. But that trey closed the gap to a perilous 46-44. Johnson responded, elbowing his way into the paint. But the Storm countered immediately, Lane Godfrey whipping a laser pass to a driving Dane McConnell to maintain the narrow disadvantage.

The Coyotes tried to wriggle free. Tyler Magninie drained a three and Knigge followed up with a pull up jumper from the wing.

“I saw his stance was to the middle,” Knigge observed of his defender, “so I took it to the baseline.”

With less than four minutes remaining, Lane Godfrey found some open space in the paint and lofted in a little finger roll.

“I didn’t know if I could jump,” the Creek Valley senior said of his decision to nudge the ball up. “It went in.”

Godfrey was hampered by a cold and a banged up knee—the latter suffered earlier in the contest as he pursued a loose ball into the concrete wall. The usually prolific shooter was held to just 9 points on the night.

“Hand it to Knigge,” Godfrey said. “I’ve never had anyone play defense on me like that. I always had a hand in my face.”

Brot picked up the slack, taking a pass in the paint and measuring his options. Instead of lobbing one up, however, he kicked it back to freshman Brett Godfrey, who nailed a three from the corner.

“He fed it to me, but I saw he was wide open,” Brot said of the exchange. “I thought we had a good shot at coming back.”

Once again, the balance teetered at 53-51. Potter-Dix tried to kill some clock, but the Storm forced a turnover. Creek Valley forced their way into the paint, only to by stymied by the long arms of Coyotes’ center Trevor Harms. The home side added a point from the line with just 1:51 left. Seconds later, a game-tying three by Brett Godfrey was wiped off the board by a Storm three second violation.

Magninie converted a layup as the clock slipped to the one minute mark, giving Potter-Dix a bit more space at 56-51.

On two consecutive possessions, Creek Valley misfired, allowing 20 more crucial seconds to tick away.

“Our youth showed at times,” Storm head coach Roger Behrends observed. “We had shots. We didn’t hit them.”

But the Coyotes failed to score on two trips to the line. Handed a lifeline, Roy Koech—who entered the game when Brett Godfrey fouled out with 29 seconds to play—drained an open jumper to bring the Storm back within 3 points at 56-53.

Forced to foul, the visitors ran afoul of Knigge, who knocked down two from the line. The senior guard was coming off a cold, but led all scorers with 21.

A five point advantage with just 15 seconds on the clock might have been comfortable under other circumstances. But, as Johnson said of Creek Valley, “they put up a fight.” And they had a sliver of time.

If Knigge topped the scoring charts, his teammate Cameron Purcell was most responsible for the win. Early in the game, when the two sides were trading points on either end, he kept the Coyotes even with a couple three pointers. Now he flew into the path of a Koech pass, as if anticipating the decision.

“All I saw was the ball,” Purcell said, denying he had read his opponent’s intentions. “I just jumped up and took it.”

Purcell, who notched 12 points overall, was fouled and sent to the line with a chance to clinch. Just a few seconds earlier, before Koech recorded his jumper, the Potter-Dix junior had flailed on the front end of a one-and-one. This time around, he hit on both, securing the 60-53 victory.

“The miss—I was tired,” Purcell admitted. “I knew I needed to put a little more power in it.”

It was a quiet end to a frantic game, one that could have ended up with a ‘w’ either way.

“Both schools knew who to key up on,” said Potter-Dix head coach Chad Miller. “It’s a conference game and you have to find a way to get it done.”

The Coyotes used their height advantage inside and a balanced approach. Four players—Knigge, Johnson, Purcell and Magninie—ended up in double digits.

“The win was a team effort,” Johnson said.

Tigers edge past Potter-Dix

Stephen McKay

The Paxton Tigers boys basketball team erased a five-point halftime deficit with a 20-point third quarter run on their way to toppling the Potter-Dix Coyotes 62-57 in a non-district game on Saturday.

The Tigers record remains perfect at 4-0 while the Coyotes mark fell to 2-2.

Potter-Dix takes on local rival Leyton on the road tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m.

Creek Valley falls to stampeding Buffaloes

Dave Faries

Caliche did not score early on Saturday night at Creek Valley. But once on the board, the Buffaloes scored often, blowing past the Storm 74-19.

The outcome was not unexpected. Caliche’s roster features eight seniors and just one underclassman, while the Storm’s lone senior and top scorer, Lane Godfrey, was forced to sit out while resting a bruised knee. And the two squads met a year ago, with similar results.

But Creek Valley started strong. On the opening possession, freshman Lane Godfrey peeled to the top of the key and buried a three. The Storm then held off Caliche on several trips down court, maintaining the 3-0 lead.

“We came out strong,” Dane McConnell said. “But it was tough without Lane.”

Minus the prolific senior, Creek Valley failed to follow up on the scoreboard, matching their visitors in the offensive freezer. Two more minutes elapsed before Caliche’s Eric Etl hit an equalizing three.

From then on, it was a Buffaloes stampede, sparked by Creek Valley miscues.

The Storm turned the ball over on five consecutive trips following Etl’s trey. Caliche took advantage each time, racking up 15 points in a span of 1:41. By the end of the first period, they had raced to a 32-3 lead. At the half, it was 54-6—a second Brett Godfrey three being the only other mark in favor of the home side.

It was an uncharacteristic show by the Storm. They turned the ball over 27 times and sank just 23 percent of their shots from the floor. Once Caliche found their stride, on the other hand, they kept going. Nine Buffaloes scored on the night.

Creek Valley never caved in, however. To open the second half, McConnell made a strong move into the paint following his own miss and hit on a put back. Maverick Widdowson backed him up a few moments later with a three, pushing the Storm into double digits.

“We shouldn’t be down about it,” McConnell pointed out.

Indeed, he and Widdowson drained jumpers as the third period ended and the fourth began. Godfrey fended off a crowd of defenders to add two more and Keith Everitt hit a neat shot toward the end of the game. The Storm also clamped down on mistakes that allowed many of Caliche’s first half transition points, holding them in a set offense.

By then, however, Caliche held an insurmountable advantage.

The fundamental lessons were not lost on Creek Valley players, musing over the result afterward.

“We learned tonight,” Brett Godfrey observed. “That’s all I can say.”

Boys Basketball

Potter-Dix 60

Creek Valley 53