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In the worlds of prep basketball 'ups and downs', coach Matt Fink's Pecatonica Vikings experienced some of each Thursday night, struggling with their first half shooting and trailing by 10 points at intermission, then rallying to take a lead with just 7.5 minutes to play, but then saw their guests, the Darlington Redbirds, retake the lead and ultimately grab a 48-42 non-conference win at the expense of the host Vikes.
Pecatonica players couldn't connect at the charity stripe when they needed free throws the most, missing seven of eight free throws attempted in the final four minutes and also came up short on some key, late possessions, missing a pair of late lay-ups and losing possession of the ball when dribbling into a crowd of Redbird defenders, ending another opportunity.
Freshman Carter Lancaster hit a baseline 'trey' from deep in the corner at the 2:19 mark to pull Darlington from behind and gave the Redbirds a 43-41 lead.
Stryker Fitzsimons and Tanner Evenstad each nailed a pair of free throws in the final minute of action and Redbirds' teammate Tony Ruesga made 1 of 2 free throws with 13 seconds left as the Redbirds extended their lead, pulling away to win by six.
Fitzsimons, a 6'3" junior and Carter Lancaster, a 6'1" freshman, led the way for coach Tom Uppena's Redbirds with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Pecatonica was led by Evan Prust's 10 points and teammate Jaden Hendrickson added nine.
The Pec team received an unexpected and unpleasant tweak to their line-up when standout playmaker and veteran junior guard, Colton Schraepfer, turned an ankle in a morning shoot-around earlier on game day and subsequently struggled, playing in pain - and sparingly, in the first half of the 7:15 p.m. battle and then was relegated to the bench for the second half.
"The ankle was injured, he (Schraepfer) tried to go, it bothered him more and more as he played on it in the first half, and frankly, I wasn't going to send him out there and take a chance on ruining his season - in a non-conference game at this early point in the season," said Fink, during a post-game interview.
"When Jaden Hendrickson fouled out there late, we didn't really have any point guard so that made it tough at the close, too," said Fink.
"We had a spurt late where we re-took the lead, hit some shots and did some good things on defense. We know in our zone we did allow some openings and to their (the Redbirds) credit, they hit some key three-pointers."
"I felt that to only be down at 25-15 and by just the 10 points at halftime was a gift because everything we had tried early on was tough. We didn't score much and that situation - it was a result of not having Colton (Schraepfer) out there - due to the ankle injury and guiding the offense. He can get other kids to score by having things develop when he penetrates. Overall, we had stretches where we played better than they did tonight - but conversely, when you have the lead, miss those free throws late, connect on just 1 of the last 8 free throws and fail on a couple late lay-ups, that makes it tough as well."
Following the holiday break, the Vikings (5-3, 3-0) hosted the Potosi Tuesday night, Jan. 2 and they get back into league 'divisional' action at Argyle tomorrow Friday night, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Pec also hosts the Fennimore Golden Eagles Monday night, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
DARLINGTON 48 PEC 42
DARLINGTON 25 23 - 48
PECATONICA 15 27 42
DARLINGTON:(fg-ft-tp) Blosch 1-0-2, Evenstad 3-2-8, Lange 2-0-6, Lancaster 5-1-12, McGuire 1-0-3, Fitzsimons 4-5-13, Ruesga 1-1-4. Three-pointers: Lange 2, Lancaster, McGuire.
Totals: 12 (5) 9-19 48. Fouls-19
PECATONICA: (fg-ft-tp) Schraep-fer 1-0-2, Prust 3-4-10, Eaton 3-1-7, J. Hendrickson 2-3-9, Bo. Hendrickson 2-2-6, Johnson 2-0-5, Ruegsegger 1-0-3. Three-pointers: Johnson, Ruegsegger, J. Hendrickson 2. Totals: 10 (4) 10-18 42. Fouls -16.