No. 3 West Fork upset by Osage, will share TIC East title

SHEFFIELD – Veteran West Fork coach Frank Schnoes points to the start of this Top of Iowa East Conference title-deciding game as the difference in his team’s 74-72 overtime loss to Osage.

The Warhawks, ranked third in Class 1A, trailed the Green Devils early, and, had it not been for a four-point play by Cail Weaver to end the first quarter, his team would have been trailing by double digits to start the second quarter.

In fact, West Fork didn’t get its first lead of the game until 5 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second quarter. The Warhawks hung onto that lead until the third quarter and it was back-and-forth after that.

“I was disappointed in how we started,” Schnoes said. “We came out playing way too tentative and when we do that, we’re not a very good ball club. It took about a quarter and a half to decide we have to play hard and do the things we needed to do to compete.

“We played pretty well the rest of the way. There were a couple of mistakes at the end, especially at the end of regulation and overtime; disappointed in the execution, but that kind of comes with the territory.”

Osage rebuilt its lead to 56-48 before a late push by the Warhawks helped them draw even. A put-back by Kayden Ames off a Brett Weaver three-point miss, followed by a defensive rebound and score by Ames, who led the Warhawks with 17 points drew West Fork to within three at 56-53.

From there, an odd sequence occurred.

Brett Weaver was called for a foul on Elijah Bluhm, who hit the first of what was supposed to be the front end of a one-and-one with 3:43 remaining in regulation. On a box-out for a potential rebound, a foul was called on the Green Devils’ Noah Sletten. Initially, the free throw was waved off on the foul call, but after the referees huddled for quite some time, the free throw was counted, but the ball was awarded to West Fork.

When asked about it, Schnoes said the Osage coach convince them the free throw should count and they went with it.

“I believe they got the call correct initially,” Schnoes said, meaning that the free throw was waved off. “I don’t think so (the point should have counted).”

He went on to show via email that a free throw provisional penalty in the official rule book that states, ‘If the first or only violation is by the free thrower or a teammate, the ball becomes dead when the violation occurs and no point can be scored by that throw…If the violation occurs during a free throw for a personal foul, other than intentional or flagrant, the ball is awarded to the opponents for a throw-in from the designated out-of-bounds spot nearest the violation.’

With Osage leading 57-53, Ian Latham hit the first of two big three-pointers for the Warhawks in the fourth quarter to pull with 57-56. A basket by Jonah Bluhm had the Green Devils ahead by three only to see Latham streak down the court and pull up for a three mere seconds later to tie it at 59.

Cail Weaver picked up his fourth foul on Jonah Bluhm, who hit 1-of-2 free throws, but less than a minute later, Jonah Bluhm fouled out in a scramble for the ball with Cail Weaver, who hit both foul shots to put West Fork ahead 61-60.

The two teams traded baskets until nine seconds to go when Latham was fouled and he went to the line to seal it. He hit the first to tie the game at 64 when Osage coach Mike Brahn called timeout. It iced Latham, who missed the potential game-winning free throw and sent the game to overtime.

“They were really plugging up the middle,” Schnoes said. “We were getting some open looks. I thought we had good looks. We actually shot fairly well from the outside, but I was disappointed that a couple of turnovers were key at the wrong time and let them run out and get easy baskets, that’s what it kind of boiled down to.”

Another key sequence in the extra period was where the Green Devils took control. The Warhawks turned the ball over and Osage scored to take the 71-69 lead, off a miss by Ames, Jakob Washington momentarily had the rebound, had it knocked away from him and he was called for a foul that Nathan Havel converted into two free throws on the other end for a four-point lead and just 13.8 seconds remaining.

“We had a nice block and Jakob had a rebound, they knocked it free from him, that looked like it was going to be a put-back for two,” Schnoes said, “so we made some good stops.”

Out of the Green Devils’ timeout following the made free throws, a Cail Weaver miss and a foul on Ames off the Havel rebound put it out of reach when he hit the first of two free throws.

A final three-pointer by Ames as time expired provide the final difference.

“It will prepare us for the (district) tournaments,” Schnoes said. “Osage is a good ball club, they played hard.”

Both West Fork and Osage will share the Top of Iowa East Conference title at 15-1. The two are also 19-2 overall.

“We split the year,” Schnoes said. “They are a good team, we are a good team. How it works out, I guess, to share it. We talked about this before the game that we were playing a tournament-type game tonight and we’re playing a good team, so we knew we had to play well to compete and learn from this and we’ll be fine.”

Osage 74, West Fork 72, OT

Osage (19-2, 15-1) –Thor Maakestad 8-13 5-6 21, Elijah Bluhm 6-8 4-6 18, Jarett Scharper 2-10 1-1 6, Nathan Havel 6-8 3-4 15, Noah Sletten 2-3 0-1 4, Chase Halbach 0-1 0-0 0, Jonah Bluhm 3-4 3-4 10, Ty Creger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-47 16-22 74.

West Fork (19-2, 15-1)– Ian Latham 3-4 4-6 12, Brett Weaver 3-9 0-0 8, Kayden Ames 7-15 0-0 17, Colin Martinek 0-0 0-0 0, Jakob Washington 1-6 4-4 7, Ren Heimer 1-1 1-2 3, Cail Weaver 3-6 5-5 13, Brayden Vold 5-6 2-5 12. Totals 23-47 16-22 72.

Osage        21   10   16   17   10      -                74

W. Fork      15   18     5   19     8      -                72

Three-point goals – O 4-9 (E. Bluhm 2-2, J. Bluhm 1-1, Scharper 1-4, Maakestad 0-1, Halbach 0-1); WF 10-23 (Ames 3-10, Latham 2-3, C. Weaver 2-3, B. Weaver 2-5, Washington 1-2). Rebounds– O 26, 10 off., 16 def. (Maakestad 8, Havel 7, E. Bluhm 3, Halbach 3, Creger 2, Scharper, Sletten, J. Bluhm); WF 22, 12 off., 10 def. (Washington 12, Latham 3, Ames 3, Vold 3, C. Weaver). Assists– O 16 (Creger 4, Maakestad 3, E. Bluhm 3, Scharper 3, Havel, Sletten, Halbach); WF 13 (Washington 3, B. Weaver 2, Ames 2, Heimer 2, Vold 2, Latham, C. Weaver).Steals– O 12 (Maakestad 4, E. Bluhm 4, Havel 2, Sletten, Halbach); WF 7 (Ames 4, Vold 2, B. Weaver). Blocks– O 4 (E. Bluhm, Sletten, Halbach, Creger); WF, None. Total fouls– O 19, WF 15. Fouled out – O (J. Bluhm); WF, None.