BUCHANAN — When Alec Brown’s last-second shot fell into the hands of a Buchanan player and the horn sounded, it didn’t take long to figure out what had gone wrong for the Niles.

The Vikings were 9-of-25 from the free throw line, including 6-of-15 in the final quarter.

“We certainly didn’t help ourselves at the line tonight,” Niles coach Todd Pawielski said. “We missed at least 10 shots inside of three feet as well. It was a great game. I thought Buchanan defended and we couldn’t guard anybody.”

Trailing 37-27 with 7:03 to play following a bucket by Buchanan’s Tyler Flynn, the Vikings (6-14) started to work their way back into the game.

A pair of Jesse Jordan free throws with 2:32 to play cut the lead to 43-40, but the Bucks’ Lyman Thomas scored with 1:08 showing on the clock to make it 45-40.

Niles was only able to convert 2-of-4 free throws in the final 57 seconds, but was able to get possession of the ball for one last shot.

Alec Brown hit the front end of two free throws with 57.4 left to make it 45-43. Jeremy Wortham hit the second of two tosses two seconds later to make it a one-point game.

After Flynn missed two free throws with 25.9 left on the clock. Niles went to work with the basketball.

The Vikings’ got it into the hands of Brown, who is their leading scorer, but his shot reached the rim, but didn’t go in.

“Those last three minutes were pretty exciting,” Pawieski said. “We had a couple of plays at the end that we needed to finish and draw contact and we didn’t. We got a pretty good shot there at the end from our best player. It would have been nice to have it go in. This is a tough one to take. We just didn’t do enough things right to win this game.

Brown led all scores with 22 points, while Wortham finished with 10.

Lyman Thomas led the Bucks with 16 points before fouling out. Kevin Dey had nine, while Flynn and Justin Henderson both finished with eight.

 

NILES 44

Cole Clemens 3, Gabe Stokes 2, Geventa Nichols 0, Alec Brown 22, Connor Glick 4, Jesse Jordan 2, Tate Brawley 0, Jeremy Wortham 10, Matt Miller 0, Mitchell Dehn 1. TOTALS: 16 9-25 44

BUCHANAN 45

Tyler Flynn 8, Brandon Gilliam 0, Kevin Dey 9, Lyman Thomas 16, Blake Graber 0, Dallis Reynolds 2, Alex Leiter 0, Justin Henderson 8, Dustin Gray 2. TOTALS: 15 11-29 45

 

Niles 11 19 27 44

Buchanan 8 20 35 45

3-point goals: Niles 3 (Clemens, Brown 2), Buchanan 4 (Thomas 2, Henderson 2). Total fouls (fouled out): Niles 26 (none), Buchanan 22 (Thomas, Reynolds). Varsity records: Niles 6-14, Buchanan 13-7