David Howard’s 3-point basket with 14 seconds left gave the Class 1A fifth ranked University Trailblazers a 48-46 win over the Class 1A top-ranked Tindley Tigers Friday night at a raucous U Center.
Howard’s basket capped a University comeback from a 45-37 deficit with 4:33 remaining in the game. The Blazers defense held the Tigers to just a single point the rest of the way and held Tindley to just two fourth-quarter field goals. University led only three times in the game for a total of 59 seconds – but was on top at the final buzzer.
“I can’t say enough about our effort tonight and our senior leadership to battle back and beat a number one team for the first time in school history” said University coach Brandon Lafferman. “Foster (Flamion) found David Howard when they doubled him in the post. We got the shot we wanted. We played very hard and rallied beat a really tough team with one of the top players in the country (Eric Hunter).”
Howard led University with 15 points while Flamion added 10. Tindley’s Hunter, a Purdue signee, led all scorers with 22 points.
Tindley broke away from a 5-5 tie to lead 17-10 at the end of the first quarter. Hunter had nine points in the first quarter while Howard had 8. The Tigers stretched their lead to 20-10 early in the second quarter, but the Blazers battled back throughout the period, tying the game at halftime at 26-26 when Zach Hodgin converted both ends of a one and one opportunity late in the quarter.
University took a 28-26 lead early in the third quarter when Hodgin rebounded an errant Tiger shot and threw a long pass to Sam Mervis for a lay-in with 7:12 left in the quarter. The lead was short lived as Keith Malone hit a three pointer six seconds later to put Tindley back on top. The Blazers went scoreless for more than seven minutes as Tindley built a 35-28 lead before Mervis rebounded a missed Tindley shot and threw a long pass to streaking Ethan Sickels who made a lay-in with two seconds left to cut the lead to 35-30 after three.
Two baskets by Howard and a three pointer by Josh Watson helped cut the lead to 39-37 with 6:26 left before Tindley hit six consecutive free throws (two by Joe Johnson, four by Hunter) to get the Tigers the 45-37 lead.
University’s comeback started on a Hodgin basket in the lane with 4:17 left before Mervis fed Flamion for a bucket in the post to cut the lead to 45-41 with 3:50 left. Hodgin cut the lead to 45-43 with 2:19 left. Hunter made the front end of a one-and-one with 1:39 left, but missed the second to make the score 46-43. Mervis found Hodgin for a bucket with 1:24 left. Howard made a big defensive play with a minute remaining, stealing the ball and setting the stage for his heroics after a Blazer timeout.
Tindley brought the ball in to the front court before Hodgin knocked the ball away and out of bounds off a Tiger player with 5.8 seconds left. However, the Blazers were whistled for a five second violation turning the ball back over to Tindley. Andrew Knox was fouled with 4.9 seconds left and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Flamion rebounded and was fouled with 3.6 seconds left, but it was just the fourth team foul on Tindley. The Tigers finally committed their seventh team foul with 0.5 seconds remaining. Mervis missed the front end of the one-and-one, however time expired before Tindley could launch a shot.
University continued a couple of season long trends tonight, passing out 15 assists on 19 made field goals. The Blazers entered the game with best assist to turnover in the state (all classes) per MaxPreps at 2.44 to 1 and committed just five turnovers tonight against the 15 assists. Mervis had six assists tonight to lead the Blazers.
University improves to 11-1 on the season, while Tindley falls to 10-3. University is next in action next Friday night at Cardinal Ritter in a reprise of one of the best series in the state. Ritter won last year by five points after University won in triple overtime in 2016 and overtime in 2015. Ritter won in overtime in 2014 and took a three point win in 2013.
University’s Zack Hodgin scored eight points for the Trailblazers and made a big defensive play in the last few seconds as University upset Class 1A No. 1 Tindley 48-46 Friday at the U Center. (Richie Hall)