TRR photo by Tom Kane Bulldog Justin Pinkel has a basket in mind. (Click for larger image)

Bulldogs squeak past S.S. Seward

By TOM KANE

JEFFERSONVILLE — Bulldog guard Alex Van Loon had a particularly special reason to celebrate when he sunk a rebound for two points as the ending buzzer sounded as Sullivan West defeated S. S. Seward on Friday, January 25.

Thirty seconds earlier he threw away the ball with the score Sullivan West 52, Seward 53.

The final score was Sullivan West 54, Seward 53.

“The thought came into my head that I had to get the ball in the basket one way or another in the eight seconds we had left,” Van Loon said. And that’s exactly what he did as the eight seconds went by on the clock.

He, Mike Ahnstrom and Evan Kraack were under the basket as Kraack missed a lay-up with Seward players all around him. It bounced towards Van Loon, who tapped it in just as the buzzer sounded.

The crowd went nuts.

Van Loon was stunned at what he had done.

Except for the first quarter, when Seward was ahead 20-14, the two teams were nip and tuck for the remaining three quarters. The score was tied at 41-41 at the end of the third quarter.

“We knew it was going to be close—it always has been with Seward,” said coach Rick Ellison. “At sectionals last year, it was the same thing. We won by one point also.”

Ellison said his strategy was to key on the two outstanding guards, Mike Hoyt and Dan Gass, and box them up.

“We used a variation on a zone with a man on each of them,” he said. “It worked.”

Ahnstrom finished with 22 points, Pinkel with 11 and both Brent Rose and Alex Van Loon with six.

For the Spartans, Hoyt had 17, Gass had 12 and Hamza Sahmanovic had 13.

Sullivan West’s record is 10-2 overall, 1-1, league.

Seward is 6-6 overall and 1-2 in the league.

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