By JEREMY McGUIRE

TMP 55, Beloit 51  2OT

TMP and Beloit battled tooth and nail in Thursday night’s 3A Sub-State Semifinal in Norton and four quarters was not enough to decide the outcome.  TMP held their largest lead of six points early in the second quarter at 16-10. Beloit would close the half on a 14-5 run to lead 24-21 going to the locker room at the break.

TMP scored the first bucket of the third quarter to pull within one and that’s when the Trojans started to put some things together.  They would score the next eight points to lead by nine midway through the third quarter.  The Monarchs chipped away at the lead and brought it down to a close 37-33 game heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter offense was hard to come by for either team, much like it had been the whole game.  Beloit led by six twice, the second time being a near knockout punch with just under two minutes to play after the fourth three of the game by Taylor Travis made it 44-38 in favor of the Trojans.  TMP would quickly answer when Jared Vitztum hit his second three of the game to cut the lead in half.  Peyton Hoffman got in the action with a steal and a bucket to cut the lead to one.  The Monarchs would hit a late free throw to tie the game and to overtime they went tied at 44.

In the first overtime both teams scored two points with TMP missing a late shot that to send the game to a second overtime.  That’s when TMP would take their first lead since they led 18-17 early in the second quarter. Hoffman’s offensive rebound and score put TMP up 48-46 and they would never trail again.  Ryan Ruder sealed the deal by hitting two late free throws to put the game out of reach.

Beloit finishes their season at 15-7.  TMP improves to 19-3 on the year and will play Norton in the sub-state title game on Saturday at 7:30pm in Norton.

JOE HERTEL INTERVIEW

GAME HIGHLIGHTS