Elliot Jurgens got into the lane, got a floater up over two York defenders and the ball found the bottom of the net as time expired in overtime, giving Beatrice a 44-42 win at the Ozone in Beatrice.
After the shot fell, Jurgens gestured two fingers to the crowd as he was bombarded by his teammates as well as the Beatrice student section.Â
The win improves Beatrice's record to 7-2 on the season, but the prospect of a win look bleak several times.
The Orangemen trailed for a majority of the game and were down 34-27 early in the fourth quarter, but finished the quarter on a 7-0 run. It was Jurgens again who came through with the heroics late in the fourth. While trailing two, he was able to get a steal before scoring off an assist from Crew Meints to tie the game at 34-34. York's last-second three pointer from deep missed its mark, forcing overtime.
The Orangemen then fell behind 42-37 midway through the overtime period. They then missed two free throws, but Luke Feist was able to come up with a big offensive rebound and put back basket to make it 42-39 with 1:13 left.
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After a missed free throw by York, Shelton Crawford was able to make a game tying three pointer from the top of the key with 43.6 seconds left.
York was able to get to the foul line on their next possession, but missed both free throws, setting up Jurgens' game winning shot.Â
 Beatrice Coach Clark Ribble said the game was a grinder.
"York came in with a great game plan on how to defend us and nothing was easy for us on offense," Ribble said. "But our kids believed and found a way to keep in close. We just closed the gap and gave ourselves a chance to win it and we were able to make a shot."
Ribble said they work on situations every day in practice, including situations where they play short, four minute games.Â
"When we forced overtime, we just told the kids that we had a four minute game to play and to just go win it," Ribble said. "Our kids have a strong belief that we're going to find a way."
The overtime period didn't start off well, but Feist's put back basket followed by Crawford's three pointer ignited the home crowd.
"When Elliot (Jurgens) passed it to Shelton (Crawford), Shelton just had supreme confidence that ball was going to go in," Ribble said. "You could just see his confidence when he shot that."
After York missed both their free throws, Beatrice was able to slow it down as they had 17 seconds left.
"We were going to go early if we were down one, but when they missed both free throws, I told Elliot to hold for the last shot," Ribble said. "The worst case scenario would have been a second overtime, but Elliot was able to find a crease and make a big shot."
Jurgens had 14 points for Beatrice while Tucker Timmerman had 10, Feist had seven, Crawford and Meints had six each and Dominik Salazar had one.
The Orangemen, along with the Beatrice girls basketball team, traveled to Seward Friday night for a doubleheader. For those results, see Tuesday's edition of the Daily Sun.
Other Sunland scores
Boys
JCC 37, WILBER-CLATONIA 34
Wilber-Clatonia 3 9 12 10 -- 34
JCC 8 10 11 8 -- 37
Wilber-Clatonia--Bjurdalen 6, Palmer 8, Combs 12, Vazquez 2, Kreshel 6.
Johnson County Central--Holthus 20, Duncan 1, Speckman 2, Borras-Carnagey 2, Ludemann 2, Jones 4, Rivera 6.
JOHNSON-BROCK 60, PAWNEE CITY 19
Johnson-Brock 25 12 11 12 -- 60
Pawnee City 3 4 8 4 -- 19
Johnson-Brock--Pelican 5, Fossenbarger 14, Cas. Dalinghaus 7, Cam. Dalinghaus 10, J. Behrends 2, Parriott 8, Buchmeier 6, Hawley 2, L. Behrends 6.
Pawnee City--Pierce 1, Bowhay 4, Baker 2, Gyhra 2, Osborne 10.
MCCOOL JUNCTION 62, MERIDIAN 37
Meridian 7 12 12 6 -- 37
McCool Junction 11 16 22 13 -- 62
Meridian--stats not provided.
McCool Junction--stats not provided.
SOUTHERN 58, FRIEND 54
Friend 14 10 14 16 -- 54
Southern 11 13 14 20 -- 58
Friend--Schluter 2, Drake 13, Girmus 16, Weber 5, Eberspacher 5, Svehla 13.
Southern--Adams 28, Saathoff 16, Singleton 3, Kuol 8, Warford 3.
Girls
FAIRBURY 55, TRI COUNTY 13
Tri County 0 5 4 4 -- 13
Fairbury 15 21 15 4 -- 55
JCC 40, WILBER-CLATONIA 39, OT
Wilber-Clatonia 11 4 4 12 8 -- 39
JCC 5 3 12 11 9 -- 40
Wilber-Clatonia--Kozak 4, Woerner 2, Vogel 2, Schuerman 5, Musil 13, Thompson 6, Oliver 1, Ehlers 6.
JCC--Sterup 13, Klein 12, Allbrecht 5, Straka 2, Harrifeld 8.
JOHNSON-BROCK 64, PAWNEE CITY 19
Johnson-Brock 20 20 21 3 -- 64
Pawnee City 7 10 0 2 -- 19
Johnson-Brock--Behrends 17, Sandfort 16, Rasmussen 13, Knippelmeyer 8, Vice 6, Nickels 4.
Pawnee City--E. Lytle 6, Blecha 2, Friedly 5, M. Lytle 5, Otterberg 1.
MERIDIAN 48, MCCOOL JUNCTION 33
Meridian 17 4 15 12 -- 48
McCool Junction 6 6 10 11 -- 33
SOUTHERN 50, FRIEND 17
Friend 8 2 2 5 -- 17
Southern 16 17 8 9 -- 50
Friend--Lawver 2, Milton 2, Brandt 9, Brahmstedt 2, Ricenbaw 2.
Southern--Klover 6, Troxel 9, Wegner 7, Cooper 16, Short 12.
STERLING 61, DORCHESTER 31
Dorchester 8 1 9 13 -- 31
Sterling 16 21 8 16 -- 61
Dorchester--Schweitzer 4, Behrens 15, Zoubek 6, Kotas 6.
Sterling--Richardson 15, Wingert 5, Dolbow 5, Boldt 10, Lafferty 9, Ludemann 12, Harms 5.
