SOMONAUK – Garrison Govig shook his head and smiled at the end of the third quarter of Indian Creek’s 65-40 win over Leland-Earlville on Monday in a quarterfinal of the Little Ten Conference tournament.
The 6-foot-9 center hasn’t made a 3 all season, but he regretted passing up a wide-open shot from beyond the arc at the end of the quarter.
“I should have taken that,” the junior said as he jogged off the court.
The idea that Govig could have drained a 3 didn’t seem that far-fetched at that point. Govig was dominant during the third quarter, when he scored 10 consecutive Indian Creek (12-8) points in the last four minutes, though all of those buckets came within a yard of the basket.
Govig left the outside shooting to his teammates, who were unstoppable early. Jaron Todd drained two 3s in the first quarter, and five different players scored as the Timberwolves jumped out to a 22-5 lead.
Kyle Lieving scored 11 first-half points, and Indian Creek went into halftime with a 38-12 lead.
“We were rotating well, we weren’t giving them easy baskets, and when you get hot from the outside, that always makes things a little bit easier,” coach Joe Piekarz said. “I thought the tone we set tonight was what sparked us tonight.”
After Govig dominated the third quarter, scoring four times off offensive rebounds, the Timberwolves coasted to victory.
Monday’s win was Indian Creek’s second in a row over Leland-Earlville (6-15) after a rough stretch in which it went 1-7. But the Timberwolves never doubted themselves.
“We know who we are,” Govig said. “We know we’ve lost a few tight games. We’ve had a few tough situations, but we know if we stick to who we are and what we do as a basketball team, we can win games.”
The Timberwolves will play Newark in the second semifinal Thursday. With a chance to set up a possible championship game against Route-30 rival Hinckley-Big Rock, it would be tough to blame Indian Creek for looking ahead.
But Govig doesn’t think that’s the case.
“No, we’re not looking ahead,” Govig said. “We’ve got to beat Newark first before playing anybody else.”
Hiawatha 51, LaMoille-Ohio 49: Alex Flores knew he would have to have a big game in Hiawatha’s first-round LTC tournament game against LaMoille-Ohio on Monday after finding out two of his team’s starters wouldn’t play.
But the sophomore, who scored 24 points in the 51-49 win, didn’t know quite how big he’d be for the Hawks.
“I knew I was going to have to have a big game for this team, and thankfully I did,” Flores said. “We were missing a couple of key players, and I knew that we would give them a game, but nothing like this.”
With Pancho Garcia at a club soccer game, Mike Mercado out sick and three other Hawks unable to play, only two players sat on coach Danny Klein’s bench, both of whom were called up from junior varsity.
Behind 16 points from Flores, the Hawks (5-16) went into halftime with a 22-19 lead.
“He played a [heck] of a game tonight,” Klein said of Flores, who has gone up and down from junior varsity to varsity all season.
Behind eight fourth-quarter points from Ed Canchola, the Hawks took a 49-40 lead with 2:30 remaining. But the Lions came back to make it a 50-49 game with 10 seconds left.
Hiawatha forward Dakotah Quimby made a free throw with 4.5 seconds remaining to give the Hawks a two-point lead, and Lamoille-Ohio forward Brandon Morris missed a layup as time expired.
Four Hawks played the entire game, but they were able to close out the win for the right to play top-seeded H-BR today in the quarterfinals.
“From a team standpoint, I thought this was our best overall win just because I played so few people,” Klein said. “I thought we could compete, I was just hoping we wouldn’t get way gassed and lose it. … My plan was just to get on them and get a lead and sustain it. I knew if we had to climb back in it at the end, we probably wouldn’t be able to.”
