Cyclones drop nail biter to Panthers

With just 1.7 seconds remaining in regulation of Friday’s home game against the Creston Panthers, Senior Panther Brayden Schoon received an inbound pass, and made for a layup at the buzzer defeating the HCHS Cyclones 48-46.
“We gave it away,” said Cyclone Head Coach Mitch Osborn. “We gave them the game. It’s a darn shame. We had 22 turnovers. It’s such a heartbreak. We’ve had three of them this year that came down to the last second, the last shot. It’s a tough loss to take.”
The Cyclone offense got off to a slow start to open the game with the first two baskets coming from Senior Josh Schaefer and Jake Hoyt. Sophomore Cyclone Kobe Klaassen answered back with a 3-pointer, but the Panthers made back-to-back 3-point shots from Sophomore Rhett Driskell and Hoyt leading 12-5 at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, Senior Cyclone Jozef Reisz got his team the first basket with a layup, which was followed shortly after with Junior Dallas McDowell driving to the basket, going up for a layup, followed by another 3-pointer from Klaassen. McDowell connected for back-to-back 3-pointers approaching the end of the quarter and managed to cut the Panther lead down to one trailing 21-20 at halftime.
“We had a poor first quarter,” Osborn said. “We went seven minutes and scored one bucket, a three, and that’s it. It was crying shame, but we were only down by seven and then down one at halftime.”
The Cyclone offense came storming out the gate in the third quarter with back-to-back shots from Senior Ben Leinen and McDowell, followed later by a 3-point play from Klaassen where the Cyclones found themselves up 27-23. McDowell continued his great night making another 3-pointer, followed by a mid-range jumpe shot, and then another mid-range jumper to close out the quarter leading 37-27.
The Panthers began the fourth quarter with a 7-1 run with the final shot of their run coming from 3-point range from Hoyt. McDowell answered back with a 3-pointer, followed by a floater from Senior Bryce Van Baale. The Panthers continued to chip away at the Cyclones lead when Hoyt made back-to-back shots cutting the Cyclone lead back to five points, forcing a timeout from Osborn.
When play resumed, the Panthers run continued with another two unanswered shots from Schaefer and Schoon, forcing another timeout from Osborn.
“It was 38 to 29 with six minutes to go in the game, and they get a 5-point possession,” Osborn said. “That was the backbreaker. We couldn’t function very well against their 1-3-1 and we’ll have to do a better job of that for sure.”
Following Osborn’s timeout, both teams exchanged buckets until Schoon made the game winning layup handing the Cyclones their ninth loss, moving to 6-9 overall on the season. They return to action Monday at home against the 3-14 Winterset Huskies. The Huskies are led by Senior Hank Wilmes averaging 10.5 points and 4.5 assists per game, along with Junior Jace Bellamy averaging 5.1 rebounds per game.