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(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The Steers’ Cooper Wilde gets fouled as he puts up a layup attempt at a game earlier in the season. The Steers came back to secure a 55-54 win Tuesday, Dec. 17 over the Iowa Parks Hawks.
Heading into the final quarter of play, things weren’t looking great for the Graham Steers. After holding a lead at halftime, the Steers allowed the Iowa Park Hawks to climb back into the game and take a 38-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
But after the final eight minutes of game time, the hometown Steers finished on top after an all out offensive and defensive performance in the final frame to take down the Hawks 55-54.
After Iowa Park outscored Graham 20-7 in the third quarter, the Steers gave it back to the Hawks, outscoring the visitors 25-16 to earn the win.
It was a grind of a game from both sides throughout the entire contest. The teams went back and forth with the lead all night, as Iowa Park led after the first quarter, Graham led at the half, the Hawks retook the lead in the third and the Steers finished with the victory.
The teams nearly matched each other at the start of the game with Graham getting on the board first with a fastbreak layup from Cooper Corley. The Steers shared the ball well at first with the team recording assists on all three made baskets in the opening quarter.
Brodie Martin scored off an assist from Corley, Jagger Nees made a transition layup on a pass from Bryce Martin and Ty Thompson nailed an and-1 basket off a pass from Bryce Martin as well.
In the second quarter, the Steers outplayed the Hawks on both sides of the ball. Graham’s zone defense worked well in this frame, as the Hawks turned the ball over multiple times which led to a few fastbreak opportunities for the Steers.
Tyler Allen knocked down Graham’s first 3-pointer of the game off an assist from Thompson to make it 15-12 for the Steers. The teams tied at 17-17 a few minutes later before the Steers went on a 6-1 run over the final minutes of the half to lead 23-18 at halftime.
Coming out of the halftime break, however, the visitors found a renewed energy that led to a spark for their team. The Hawks scored five straight points to quickly tie the game at 23-23, and over the course of the next five minutes, Iowa Park took a 32-26 lead.
Thomason Burkett got on the board with a close shot under the basket to help stop the bleeding a bit, and a few free throws paired with a floater from Allen helped Graham pull the score to 35-30. But Iowa Park drained a 3-pointer a few seconds before the buzzer to lead 38-30 going into the final period.
It looked like the Hawks knew what they had to do to stay ahead of the Steers on both sides of the ball.
But whether it was the pressure of holding a lead or Graham’s tough defense, Iowa Park began to miss shots and turn the ball over, allowing the Steers to fight their way back into the game.
The Steers worked inside most of the game and continued to do so in the fourth quarter. Brodie Martin scored first followed by a quick steal and layup from Corley. A basket from Thompson, a free throw and a basket from Bryce Martin closed the significant gap and made the score 41-39 in Iowa Park’s favor.
Jagger Nees later connected on a long 3-pointer to make it a one-point game, but the Hawks continued to hold the Steers down. With just under three minutes to play, Iowa Park led 51-46.
Thompson scored a couple of times and Brodie Martin went 2-of-2 at the free throw line to make it 53-52 for the Hawks. With 30 seconds to go, the Steers found a way into the lane where Thompson found Bryce Martin on the baseline who finished a tough layup to tie the game at 54-54.
Following a rebound by Burkett, he got fouled and went to the free throw line. The sophomore missed the first but nailed the second for a one-point Graham lead with 7.4 seconds to go.
Iowa Park drove down the court and had a couple different looks at layups for the winning basket but missed both and Graham walked away as winners.
It was a big home win for the Steers who were led in scoring by Thompson who finished with 16 points and six assists. He was followed in double digits by Brodie Martin who had 12 points and two assists.
Bryce Martin ended the game with 9 points and four assists, Allen, Corley and Nees each finished with 5 points and Burkett had 3 points and the game-winning free throw.
