March 2, 2024 at 7:55 a.m.
Game Report: Jets Down the Raiders to Advance to Saturday Night’s Sectional Championship
By Mike Asher
A turning point is very important in sporting events. Friday night the Hauser Jets (18-6), was a three-point basket from Sophomore Kameron Blair with 7:31 left in the game. The Jets trailed Sectional host South Ripley (13-10) the entire game until Blair’s basket to tie the game at 40. The score didn’t change for over two minutes. Hauser Junior Taeshaun Tungate nailed a bucket with 5:12 remaining to put the Jets up 42-40. Tungate hit a couple more baskets to put the Jets up 48-44 with 2:08 left.
The final two minutes seemed to take twenty minutes as the game turned into a free throw shooting contest. Blair connected on 1 of 2 to put Hauser up 49-47. Raiders freshman Drew Volz hits 1 of 2 free throws to cut the lead back to one. Jet Junior Ledger Gelfius connects on both of his free throws to put Hauser up three with 19 seconds remaining. Following a Raider timeout, they lobbed the ball completely out of bounds. Gelfius gets fouled again and hits the second of two to put Hauser up four with 14 seconds left. The Raiders Ethan Johnson drilled a trey from the top of the key to cut the Jet lead to one with 7.6 seconds left. Expecting the Raiders to foul, the inbound pass went to Gelfius as a Raider defender knocked the ball off of Gelfius and get the ball back with six seconds to stay alive. Raider leading scorer of the game Blaine Ward, received the inbound pass, drove to the basket and missed. Tungate secured the rebound to win the game 52-51.
Despite the early foul trouble, the Jets overcame with tremendous team defensive effort. Hauser also won the battle of the boards 35-26, eliminating a lot of second shot opportunities for the Raiders.
Some say the revenge factor is worth at least 10 points in the second meeting of two teams. This may have been the case as Hauser’s first loss of the season was to South Ripley at home, December 8, 61- 47. Hauser will move on to the Championship game tonight at 6:30 against Switzerland County. The Pacers defeated North Decatur in a close battle 52-48 in Friday night’s second game. Hauser played at Switzerland County December 16 and came out on top 53-42.
Leading Hauser’s scoring attack tonight was Blair and Tungate with 12 each. Gelfius with 10. Sophomores Stryker Gill and Gavin Keller had 8, and Junior Alex Cord had 2. Leading the Raiders were Blaine Ward 17, Cole Henry 14, Ethan Johnson 10, Gavin Binion 9, and Drew Volz 1.
This was not only Hauser second year head coach Trent Moorehead’s first sectional tournament game win, but it was also his first win over his alma mater. Congratulations coach!
Jet fans unable to make the trip to Versailles tonight, can hear the game live on WCSI. 98.1 FM, 1010 AM, on the WCSI app, or WCSI website. Sam Simmermaker & Jonathan Titus have the call.
