Herders overcome Wright after two overtime rally for 93-91 victory

 Through two hours of action-packed, non-conference basketball, the Glenrock and Wright boys teams went at it like a championship was on the line. No trophies were involved but the hustle of teams hungry to win were on full display until GHS fought from behind in the second overtime for a 93-91 victory, a score more reflective of the NBA than high school.

Glenrock trailed for nearly the entire fourth period. Wright got buckets from Mitch Strohschein, Truatt Strohschein and Joseph Kimbrell which helped protect a two-possession lead most of the way at 60-56 and 70-66. 

The Herders never let Wright, ranked fifth in the state, our of their sights.  They grabbed their first advantage of the fourth when sophomore Talon Humphrey swished a three-pointer from the corner to make it 71-70 with 2:07 left to play.

The Panthers were only down for few seconds when Mitch Strohschein scored inside the paint as well as a free throw to put his team back up 73-71. Talon Humphrey responded again and scored from the charity stripe  in the final seconds to tie it up at 73-73 to force the first overtime.

Wright appeared ready to put the game away by turning a couple of turnovers into points to take an 81-76 lead with a minute left. Glenrock had other plans and used defensive stops by Owen Partridge and Brady Dona to stall Wright. Meanwhile, Talon Humphrey buried another three pointer to tie the contest at 81-81 for a second overtime.

The Herders made sure that was the final extra period. Mitch Strohschein fouled out while Aaron Wasik, Talon Humphrey and Dona scored the final points for Glenrock to escape Campbell County with the win. 

Overtime reflected the entire game for the talented teams. The Herders were hot first and used three-pointers from Nate Bigford, Partridge scored on an offensive rebound, Talon Humphrey hit a running jumper and Colter Lewis scored from close range for a 12-3 lead. 

Wright battled back before the quarter ended. Mitch Strohschein, Jackson Robb and Kimbrell all helped score to flip the momentum to pull within two after one period, 21-19.

The Panthers stayed within a couple of possessions the rest of the half, getting within two twice. However, Talon Humphrey hit a late trey and Dona scored twice to preserve a 38-37 halftime advantage.

“It was a crazy game! I was so proud of the boys for continuing to battle until the end.  There were several moments in the second half and overtime that we could have easily fallen apart and lost.  We were trailing by five points with less than a minute in the first OT,” head coach Adam Humphrey said, “With a lot of pressure and a loud crowd on the road, they kept their heads and made big plays to tie it back up.  So many guys made big plays. Talon, Nate, Aaron, Colter and Easton all hit big outside shots down the stretch to keep us in the game.  Brady and Owen made some big plays on defense to limit their possessions, and Miles hit a big free throw to give us a 4 point lead late in the game.  For us to play in a tight game on the road in a high pressure situation like that, and get the win was huge. We gained a lot of valuable experience that could be important come regional time.”