Cubs win double OT thriller

HUMBOLDT — Now this is what the dreamers of March Madness had in mind, as Humboldt High’s boys hosted Burlington High in a game for the ages Friday evening.
You want momentum-grabbing 3-pointers, in-your-face defense, and an occasional eye-raising call from an official?
There was so much on display in their Class 3A substate semifinal, they couldn’t fit it into four quarters, or a single overtime, for that matter.
By the time the dust settled, Humboldt prevailed, 74-70, in a double-overtime contest that felt more suited for a state championship matchup than a Class 3A substate semifinal.
The win sets up a championship matchup against Eureka tonight at 7:30 at the Humboldt fieldhouse. The winner advances to next week’s state tournament.
“I don’t know what to say,” Cub head coach David Taylor said. “I’m getting too old for this. Hopefully, we still have our legs (tonight) because Eureka’s a good team that likes to get up and down the floor.”
Humboldt ultimately prevailed through a series of defensive stops in the second overtime, followed by key baskets by a varied cast of characters.
Burlington’s hot shooting touch, which enabled the Wildcats to make up a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, turned cold. The Wildcats went scoreless from the field for the last 3½ minutes of the game, until scoring as time expired.
In the interim, Hunter Murrow’s 3-pointer with 3:13 left gave Humboldt the lead for good, 69-67. Then Tanner McNutt’s offensive rebound of a Nathan Whitcomb miss led to another Murrow basket and a 71-67 lead. Burlington’s James Beyer hit 1 of 2 free throws to cut Humboldt’s lead to three before McNutt, Whitcomb and Blake Crawford each hit 1 of 2 free throws following empty Wildcat possessions, to push the game out of reach, 74-68.

HUMBOLDT led nearly all but the final 10 seconds of regulation, too.
Noah Thornbrugh’s free throws with a minute left in the third quarter put the Cubs on top 48-35, and seemingly in control.
Or maybe not.
“We just sort of stopped doing the things we needed to,” Taylor said. “We started putting up silly shots, making bad decisions.”
Burlington pounced on the chance to get back into it. Korbin Ratzlaff scored inside before Ryan Redding hit all three free throws when he was fouled in a 3-point attempt. McNutt missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for the Cubs — missed free throws were a contributing factor to the heightened tension — before Grant Shell hit two charities to cut Humboldt’s lead to 50-44.
Thornbrugh and Johnson both went 1 of 2 on free throws, while Ian Schepers converted a traditional three-point play, and Redding connected again from downtown, to cut the Humboldt lead to 52-50 with 4:40 left in regulation.
McNett re-established a five-point lead with a 3-pointer with 4 minutes remaining, but Ratzlaff responded with a 3 of his own.
Whitcomb missed both free throws on Humboldt’s next possession before Preston Beyer scored inside to tie the game at 55-55 at the 3:15 mark.
Ratzlaff’s steal with 2:50 left on the clock allowed the Wildcats to milk off all but about 15 seconds on the game clock. Schepers missed, but Braden Meyer wound up with the loose ball, and connected on a jumper from the free throw line, giving the Wildcats their first lead, 55-53 with 10 seconds remaining.
Humboldt’s timeout with 2 seconds set up a nifty inbounds play, in which McNutt found Johnson open underneath his basket. Johnson’s lay-in as time expired sent the game to overtime.

THE TENSION grew from there. McNutt’s layup led was part of a 3-point play and a 63-60 lead with 48 seconds left in the overtime period. But Humboldt wound up missing six straight free throws in the final 38.1 seconds, including one exasperating instance in which McNutt rebounded his own miss, for an easy putback. But that shot was disallowed because the officials called McNutt for a lane violation.
“I’m not so sure about that one,” Taylor said.
Schepers then scored with 12 seconds remaining to put Burlington back on top 64-63.
Humboldt’s final possession led to a missed layup by McNutt, but Whitcomb was there for the offensive rebound, even after the ball bounced so high it struck an overhanging support cable. McNutt was fouled with six-tenths of a second left, hitting the first free throw to tie the score, but bouncing the second off the rim, sending the game into the second extra session.
“I’m happy as hell for the kids,” Taylor said. “We had guys step up and play big, and we had a lot of fun. We had five guys in double figures. But if we did the things we were supposed to, this would have been a lot easier on us. I think they do this to me on purpose.”
Johnson led the Cubs with 16 points before exiting in the second overtime with apparent leg cramps. McNutt and Thornbrugh added 15 apiece. Thornbrugh also left early, fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Whitcomb added 14 and Murrow 13.
Thornbrugh had eight rebounds, while McNutt and Whitcomb each wound up with seven assists.
Shell’s 17 led Burlington, followed by Ratzlaff with 15 and Schepers with 11.

ON THURSDAY, the Cubs were never threatened, although Taylor noted they didn’t play particularly well, either, in a 62-34 win over Jayhawk-Linn.
Humboldt scored the first seven points on the way to a 15-7 lead after the first quarter and a 33-18 halftime advantage.
The Cubs’ lead grew to 42-20 before Jayhawk-Linn twice cut the deficit to 17 points in the third period.
Humboldt spread the wealth down the stretch. Six players scored in the fourth quarter as Humboldt closed the game with a 16-7 run.
Whitcomb scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, followed by Thornbrugh and McNutt with 10 apiece.
Austin Coleman scored 13 to lead the Jayhawks. Justin Mark added eight.
Friday
Burlington (10-16-9-22-5-7-6—70)
Humboldt (17-11-20-9-7-10—74)
Burlington (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Redding 1/3-3-5-14, Mahoney 0-0-5-0, Meyer 3-1-5-7, Shell 2/3-4-5-17, Ratzlaff 2/3-3-4-16, P. Beyer 2-0-3-4, J. Beyer 0-1-2-1, Schepers 5-1-2-11. TOTALS: 15/9-13-31-70.
Humboldt (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Vanatta 0-0-1-0, Mcnutt 3/2-3-4-15, Murrow 4/1-2-0-13, Whitcomb 4-6-4-14, Crawford 0-1-1-1, Johnson 4/2-2-3-16, Thornbrugh 6-3-5-15. TOTALS: 21/5-17-19-74.
Thursday
Jayhawk-Linn (7-11-9-7—24)
Humboldt (15-18-13-16—62)
Jayhawk-Linn (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Rowe 2-1-3-5, Coleman 3-7-1-13, Matthews 1/1-0-2-5, Vaughan 0-0-2-0, Sutherland 0-0-2-0, Mark 3-2-0-8, Miller 1-1-3-3. TOTALS: 10/1-11-13-24.
Humboldt (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Vanatta 3-0-2-6, McNutt 3-4-5-10, Murrow 0/1-0-1-3, Whitcomb 8-1-1-17, Crawford 4-0-3-8, Johnson 2-2-4-6, Thornbrugh 5-0-0-10. TOTALS: 26/1-7-16-62.