INDIANAPOLIS — Despite three Bulldogs in double figures, Lapel’s appearance in the Hoosier Invitational at Bankers Life Fieldhouse ended in a heartbreaking 82-74 loss after three exhausting overtime sessions with the Wapahani Raiders on Dec. 7.
Coach Jimmie Howell said the Raiders, ultimately, proved to be the stronger team.
“They’re just tougher than we are,” Howell said. “We took a couple shots we probably shouldn’t have taken.”
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The Bulldogs let the lead slip away, one they held until the final seconds of the game when the undefeated Raiders tied things up on an Easton Hefferman basket.
Up by nine in the third quarter, Howell cautioned his team to take the higher- percentage shot, but even with the calculating, the Raiders’ urgency and a hot second half from Drew Luce put the Bulldogs in dangerous territory.
Wapahani outscored the Bulldogs 11-5 in the waning minutes of the third quarter.
“We should have put it away. We’ve had a tendency to do that this year,” Howell said. “We get up, and then we relax and let teams get back in it.”
Missed free throws hampered both teams in the overtime minutes.
Wapahani took the lead for the first time in the game when Cole Alexander’s foul on Hefferman sent the Raider to the line, where he hit one to make it a 59-58 lead, but when Bulldog Luke Richardson went to the line, he hit two to put Lapel back on top by one.
Wapahani scored again, but a big three by Carson Huber gave the Bulldogs the edge at 63-61.
With less than a minute to go in the first overtime, the Raiders tied the score; later, a tussle under the basket sent Garret Stanley to the line with the opportunity to snag the game for the Raiders.
He missed and sent the game to a second OT.
On shots by Alexander and Noah Frazier, the Bulldogs found themselves with a 69-65 lead. Another Raider score and missed Lapel free throw left the Bulldogs with a 70-67 edge.
Luce hit a three to send the game into its third and final overtime.
“We missed a couple free throws in the end of the second overtime that could have won the game for us. Anything you miss from the free throw line, in the beginning of the game or end of the game, can come back to haunt you,” Howell said. “They battled through that mental fatigue, and we didn’t.”
Once the clock started on the final four minutes, the Raiders would not be denied, and Lapel struggled.
Luce went to the line, hitting four from the stripe and sealing the game for the Raiders.
For the Bulldogs, Richardson led scoring with 22, followed closely by Alexander with 20 and Frazier with 19. Richardson pulled down 21 rebounds, and Alexander had 10. Lapel went 13-24 from the free throw line.
“Cole got two or three big buckets for us,” Howell said. “Critical ones that got us up in the overtime, but we let them back in.”
Even with the loss, Howell said the game was a good experience.
“It’s valuable. When you play close games like this, it’s always valuable.”
Lapel bounced back from the loss on Saturday with a 62-49 home win against Muncie Burris.
The Bulldogs held a 12-point lead at the half and continued with the double-digit advantage throughout the rest of the game.
Richardson again led all scorers with his 26 points, 11 coming from the foul line. Huber scored 15, all from the 3-point line.
The Bulldogs’ game against Beech Grove has been postponed to Feb. 19 (Senior Night).
