Bruck buzzer bomb lets Cyclones beat Denison
HARLAN (Dec. 13) -- In terms of athletic prowess, Harlan Community senior Connor Bruck may be best known for his skills on the baseball diamond.
His basketball heroics, however, are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend.
Last February, Bruck’s last-second driving layup gave HCHS a 64-62 home win over Creston. On Friday night, Bruck calmly drilled a 30-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime and the Cyclones stayed unbeaten by knocking off Denison-Schleswig 68-60 in OT.
“It’s kind of a blur to me right now,” Bruck said of his game-tying bomb. “(Coach Mitch) Osborn was hollering from the bench to ‘shoot it, shoot it, shoot it,’ so that’s what I did... This is a huge confidence booster for the team and I’m just thankful.”
Bruck added two free throws in OT and finished with a game-high 23 points and a team-best five assists. Fellow seniors Johnathan Monson and Michael Heithoff contributed identical double-doubles with 16 points and 15 rebounds apiece.
HCHS improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in Hawkeye Ten Conference play while the highly-touted Monarchs slipped to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the H-10 following losses to Glenwood and Harlan in a four-day span.
The Cyclones led 22-20 at the end of a low-scoring first half and 39-38 after three quarters, but they trailed by slim margins during much of the second half as 6-foot-8 Denison senior Goanar Biliew scored 20 of his 22 points following halftime.
Bruck’s tough baseline runner pulled HCHS within a point before Biliew hit one of two free throws with :43.6 remaining to make it 53-51. The Cyclones came up empty three times on their next possession and D-S senior Charlie Wiebers was fouled with just :03.2 on the clock.
Wiebers, who was instrumental in two fourth-quarter comeback wins over Harlan last season, hit the front end of a 1-and-1 before Osborn called timeout to freeze him and set up a play if he missed the second attempt.
When Wiebers did miss, Monson grabbed the board, took two quick dribbles and passed to Bruck near midcourt. Bruck took a dribble or two to free himself, set his feet and the rest is history.
“He got a good look,” said HCHS coach Mitch Osborn. “He’s got deep range and he’s strong and he hit the shot... I thought it was going in. It looked so good. That wasn’t a runner. He planted his feet and took it, and he’s got ice in his veins.”
Monson started the extra session with a three-point play, Bruck hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 59-54 and Connor Frame came up with a big steal on defense. HCHS set up its “Carolina” delay game at that point and made 9-of-16 free throws in the last 2:02.
Twice in OT the Cyclones rebounded their own missed free throw and were sent back to the line. They finished with 22 offensive boards and outrebounded Denison 49-29, overcoming 19 turnovers (D-S had 14).
Harlan Community 68, Denison-Schleswig 60 (ot)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT --- Final Record
Denison 8 12 18 16 6 --- 60 3-2, 1-2 H-10
HCHS 10 12 17 15 14 --- 68 4-0, 3-0 H-10
Harlan Community Statistics
Player Pts. FG 3’s FT Reb. Ast. Stl. Blk. Fouls
Connor Bruck* 23 6-11 3-4 8-8 5 5 0 1 4
Cody Christensen 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Brad Curren 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Michael Erlemeier* 6 1-5 0-2 4-4 2 2 1 1 0
Connor Frame* 5 2-9 1-6 0-0 8 1 2 0 5
Aidan Hall 2 0-1 0-0 2-4 4 0 0 2 1
Michael Heithoff* 16 7-11 1-3 1-8 15 3 0 1 3
Johnathan Monson* 16 5-13 2-6 4-7 15 2 1 1 3
* Starters
HCHS 68 21-50 7-21 19-31 49 13 4 6 16
Denison 60 25-50 3-16 7-19 29 16 7 3 24
Denison-Schleswig Scoring: Goanar Biliew 22, Charlie Wiebers 15, Austin Korner 8, Jack Mendlik 8, Braiden Heiden 3, Damien Magnusen 2, Evan Turin 1, Ringo Wol 1. Rebounds: Biliew 9, Wiebers 5. Assists: Wiebers 7. Blocks: Biliew 3. 3-pt FG: Mendlik 2-3, Heiden 1-2.
FG%: HCHS 42.0, D-S 50.0. 3%: HCHS 33.3, D-S 18.8. FT%: HCHS 61.3, D-S 36.8. Turnovers: HCHS 19, D-S 14.