It was a very unfamiliar position for the Altamont Indians, facing a 20-point deficit to Casey-Westfield early in the third quarter, but over the next 7 minutes the Indians would claw back into the game, tie it up late in the fourth quarter and pull out the 61-59 win for the first Sectional Semifinal win in program history and doing so on their home floor as part of the Altamont 1A Sectional. The Indians got out to a 5-2 lead to start the game, but the Warriors would seemingly not miss from beyond the arc, hitting four three-pointers and going on a 20-5 run in the quarter to lead Altamont 22-10 by the end of the first quarter. Altamont would pick up their perimeter game, going for three 3-pointers themselves, two from Avery Jahraus and one from Dillan Elam, in the second with a basket added from Jared Hammer for 11 points, but the Warriors would match that and hold a 33-21 lead over the Indians at halftime. The Warriors would continue to pour on the offense to start the second half going on a 10-2 run in the first couple minutes of the third quarter. The tide would begin to turn with a 10-0 run from the Indians as they began to chip away at the Warrior lead and cut their deficit to 43-33. Casey-Westfield would take a timeout to try and slow the Indians run, but after the break, would turn over the ball when Eli Miller would come up with a big steal leading to an Altamont basket to cut the C-W lead to single digits, 43-35. After the Warriors would complete the old fashioned three-point play to push the lead back up to 46-35, Altamont responded with a basket of their own to cut it to 46-35 with 12.3 second left in the third and after being fouled, Altamont would get the ball back and Mason Robinson would hit a bucket before the buzzer to cut the C-W lead down to 46-39 at the end of the third quarter. Two made free throws by Altamont’s Elam followed by a Jared Hammer basket would make it a 20-3 run by the Indians to cut the Indians’ deficit down to 46-43. After trading baskets and free throws, Jahraus would hit a three from the left corner to tie the game up at 49-49 with 4:37 left in the game before Robinson would hit a shot to give Altamont the 51-49 lead. After the Warriors would tie the game back at 51-51, Altamont would respond with baskets from Elam and Eli Miller with C-W hitting a three to regain the lead at 56-55. After Robinson would get a put back basket off a rebound to make it 57-56 and C-W would get called for a charge on the next possession, Altamont would get the ball back and Robinson would be fouled on the play and hit two free throws for a 59-56 lead with 38.7 seconds left in the game. The Warriors responded to cut it back to 59-58 but the Indians again pushed it out to a 3-point lead when Jahraus would steal the ball and be fouled. Jahraus hit one free throw to give Altamont the 60-58 lead with 6.0 seconds left. The Warriors would get the ball down the floor and a foul would be called on what was determined to be a three-point shot attempt giving Casey-Westfield’s Jackson Parcel three free throws of which he would miss the first and make the second to cut it to 60-58. After Parcel would miss the third free throw, Elam would rebound the ball for Altamont and be fouled with just one second left in the game. Elam made the first free throw to make it 61-59. Elam missed the second and C-W would rebound the ball and throw up a full court hail mary at the buzzer that would glance off the front left of the rim as the Indians would complete their comeback for the 61-59 win.
Tuesday night’s sectional semifinal win, putting Altamont at 29-4 on the season, is the first for Indians boys basketball putting them in a Sectional Championship game for the first time ever. They will play at home again on Friday night at 7pm, facing the winner of the second sectional semifinal game between St. Anthony and Tuscola.
Altamont Scoring:
Mason Robinson – 27 points
Dillan Elam – 13 points
Avery Jahraus – 12 points
Jared Hammer – 4 points
Logan Cornett – 3 points
Eli Miller – 2 points
