The Boys’ Varsity Basketball team won 72-63 over The Breck School Mustangs in an overtime thriller on Feb 3. This was their biggest game so far in their quest for the IMAC Conference title. The game started 40 minutes late, as The Breck School’s bus got stuck in the snow. It appeared as if the Mustangs’ game was left in the snow for the first few minutes of the game as the Spartan’s managed to jump out to a quick 12 point lead. The start to the game was similar to the beginning of the previous matchups between the two teams: the Spartans were able to get out and run a little bit and not allow the Mustangs to get into their defensive sets. After a few buckets started dropping for Breck they were able to get into the same stretch 3-2 zone defense that confused the Spartans in the previous matchup. However, the Spartans were ready for it and looked better than in the Jan. 9 matchup. Unfortunately, they were still unable to exploit the weaknesses of the defense until the second half. The Spartans took a 28-24 lead into the break.

Coming out of the half, SPA had the zone defense figured out and were able to extend their lead out. The Breck School came out of their next timeout and were playing man-to-man for the remainder of the game. With about 10 minutes remaining in the second, the there was a battle for an offensive board for the Spartans and the ball popped out of the scramble and hit junior Dalante Peyton in the face. After blocking an apparently open shot by the Mustangs, Peyton then had to take a seat on the bench to treat his bloody nose. The Mustangs then made a run that put them up 5 with under 2 minutes to play. The Spartans were able to shut Breck player, Culliton, down with great defense from senior Dean Isaacson and junior Ryan Peacock. They didn’t give Culliton an inch of space. Culliton only dropped in 16 as opposed to the 37 he dropped in the previous matchup. The Mustangs had the ball with 28 seconds left on the clock and the game tied at 56. Isaacson stayed with Culliton the whole time, and Culliton was unable to drop down the three that would get them the win. With seven seconds left on the clock, senior Sam Suzuki brought down the rebound, Suzuki then dished the ball to junior Dalante Peyton who brought the ball past half-court and threw up a shot that bounced off the rim and out as time expired.

The game headed to overtime, where the Spartans dominated, they outscored the Mustangs 16-7 in the four minute overtime period. Senior Sam Suzuki said that in the overtime, “the defense really picked up, and a big key was [senior Abdulsalan Osman] decided that he would play better.” Osman didn’t get a lot of playing time due to the fact that he was in foul trouble for most of the game and the time that he did play in the first half was passive, and the fouls were due to bad defense. Junior Kent Hanson led all scorers with 28 points, he also grabbed 10 boards to get his 9th double-double of the season and his fourth in a row. Hanson said, “when we tied the game up, we knew we weren’t going to lose. It was a conscious decision: we were going to win.”

The game kept the Spartans hopes for the IMAC title alive. The Spartans will become conference champs if they are able to win the rest of their in-conference games and if the Mustangs lose one of their two remaining games.

SPA plays Minnehaha Academy in an IMAC duel, Friday, 7:00 at Historic Briggs Gymnasium to keep the Spartans’ hopes for the conference championship alive.