Dogies win in thrilling OT finish
For the second time this season, the Newcastle High School Dogies picked up a conference win in thrilling fashion. Friday in Rawlins, head coach Allen Von Eye’s team rallied to come from behind, send-ing the game into overtime at the end of regulation with scores knotted up at 66.
Then, in heart-stopping flare, senior Thatcher Troftgruben busted a beautiful shot from beyond the arc, with an Outlaw defender’s hand in his face. It was nothing but net, giving the Dogies the 69-66 lead with 1.8 seconds to play, and ultimately secured the final win.
After playing their previous two contests without three starters, the Dogies were very happy to welcome back their point guard and leading scorer Teddy Troftgruben as well as their big man inside, Kyan Allen.
Both players showed everyone how their presence on the court impacts the Dogies’ game with Teddy ending the contest with a career high of 33 points, and Allen contributing to every stat line, finishing with 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal, three deflections and two charges taken.
“Kyan rebounded the ball really well and was a big defensive presence all night,” Teddy said. “I just kind of took what the defense gave me, and I just went to the rack a lot. Also, I got to the free-throw line a lot and did okay from there.”
After the long, grueling bus ride to Rawlins, the Dogies struggled to get going. The Outlaws led 23-19 at the end of the first quarter and 38-26 at the half, so Newcastle had a hole to dig out of in the second half.
And dig they did.
Ramping up their aggression on offense, and dialing in with a high-percentage shooting onslaught, all while maintaining a solid defensive presence on the court, allowed Von Eye’s crew to out-score the Outlaws 40-28 in the remaining two quarters of regulation.
Teddy scored the critical two-point bucket, which tied the game at 66-66.
In overtime, Von Eye noted that Rawlins, curiously, did not attack the offensive end of the court with any urgency, while the Dogies maintained their defensive pressure. Newcastle also struggled on the offensive end of the floor and neither team put any points on the board for nearly all four minutes of the OT period.
With seconds to go, Von Eye drew up a play to give Teddy the opportunity for a bucket, but the play went awry.
Teddy lost the ball on his drive to the basket, but a heads up play by freshman Colten Hatheway had him recovering the ball, and finding Thatcher on the perimeter for the shot.
“We thought we were going to get a different look coming out of that time out in OT,” Von Eye said. “But players make plays. After we lost the ball, Colten did a great job of finding who was open, and then Thatcher just knocked it down. That was certainly not what we had drawn up.”
The 69-66 win made the five-hour bus ride home much easier to take for the Dogies. The victory also was crucial in lifting Newcastle out of the three-way, eighth seed tie that they were in for regionals.
This week the Dogies will get a chance to even things up against the Herders in Glenrock on Thursday and will also have their second go against Buffalo at home on Saturday where tip off for subvarsity is scheduled for 1 p.m.
