The Cordell Blue Devils put on one heck of a show in last Tuesday’s season opener at home against Merrit, taking the game to double overtime before coming up on the short end of a 65-57 score.
The game opened slowly, with more than two minutes of play elapsed before either team found the bucket. Cordell got there first, with Gaige Keister hitting a short jumper to take the 2-0 lead. After another fruitless Merritt possession, Keister ripped a three-pointer to push the Devils to a 5-0 lead with just over three minutes elapsed. Merritt managed to put in their first goal before Brady Reimer hit a three to push Cordell to an 8-2 lead. The teams battled back and forth for the rest of the first period before the buzzer blew on an 11-6 Cordell lead.
The Oilers battled back in the second period, with Cordell’s Bode Gallagher on the bench after his second foul late in the first quarter. The teams traded shots throughout the quarter, with Merritt dropping in 11 and Cordell scoring eight. The first half ended with Cordell leading by two at 19-17.
The Blue Devils came out of the locker room firing to open the third quarter, with Reimer hitting a quick three to push Cordell’s lead to five, but the Oilers weren’t ready to give in and responded with their own from behind the arc to close the lead back to two. By the end of the third, Cordell had pushed the lead back to three. Despite the Blue Devils best efforts, the Oilers managed to match them shot-for-shot in the opening minutes of the period, then with about five minutes remaining took their first lead of the game at 38-37. Over the course of the next three minutes, the Oilers extended their lead to six, leading 45-39 with just under two minutes to play. Carsen Nickel started the Blue Devils’ end of regulation run, drawing the twoshot foul on a hard drive to the hole. After splitting the shots, the Devils trailed by five with 53 seconds left to play. The Devils were in full-court press when Blaine Larsen stepped in front of an Oilers outlet pass, taking the ball and allowing Cordell to score and close the lead to three. With just 22 seconds in regulation, Gallagher pulled up from deep outside and drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 45, forcing overtime.
The teams traded points in the overtime period, until Merritt jumped out to a 50-49 lead. The Blue Devils responded, though, with Raydon Kuehne dropping a clutch three to push the Devils into the lead with just 40 seconds to play. After a Merritt turnover Keister drew a foul and split the free throws, giving Cordell a three point lead with just 21 seconds to play. The Oilers responded quickly, hitting a three of their own to push the game into a second overtime period.
Cordell started the second overtime strong, gaining a two-point lead from a couple of trips to the charity stripe, but the Oilers came back to take the lead on a three-pointer and then opened it up to 65-57 at the end.
“I thought we played hard,” said head coach Brandon Gallagher. “It was one of those games that went right down to the wire at the end of regulation and the first overtime. They made some big plays and so did we. We missed a lot of shots in the paint and free throws, which came back to haunt us. I’m sure we will have lots of these types of games this year and hopefully we will be able to pull them out.”
Reimer led the Blue Devils in scoring with 19 points. He also added seven rebounds, two deflections, two steals and an assist. Keister added 16 points, 10 rebounds, three deflections, two steals and two assists. Gallagher had 10, with nine boards, five of which were offensive helping with the Devils’ 11 second-chance points. Kuehne added eight points and Nickel four.
The Blue Devils played Minco at home last night and will travel to Hobart Friday to face the Bearcats. Next week’s Beacon will include complete coverage of both games.