Cardinals derail Lenox’s dream season in OT

GREENFIELD — Pride of Iowa Conference champion Lenox appeared to be headed toward Thursday’s Class 1A District 13 final here on Tuesday.

The Tigers led Central Decatur 46-34 after three quarters and held an 11-point lead (51-40) with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

And then Peyton Pedersen happened.

Pedersen scored 11 of his 30 points in the final five-plus minutes of regulation and overtime, leading Central Decatur to a come-from-behind 61-57 win over Lenox.

“He knew we were never out of it,” Pedersen said about head coach Zach Clark. “He told us to just keep fighting. We’ve been fighting all year. They got us the first time. We lost by one. We were down 10 or something like that in the fourth quarter and we just kept fighting. We got some turnovers to go our way and finished on the opportunities.”

The Central Decatur senior collected a steal and raced down the court for an emphatic two-handed slam that brought the Cardinals to life and made the score 51-42.

Lenox answered with a bucket by 6-9 senior Spencer Brown, who finished with 30 points and 27 rebounds in the loss.

But Central Decatur responded with a 13-0 run, and took its first lead of the game (54-53) with 1:31 left in regulation, in the process.

That run included another Pedersen two-handed slam after Carter Boothe pulled down a defensive rebound and fired a pass to Pedersen streaking down the court all alone and a key 3-pointer by Kyle Guill.

“I joke with those guys that it’s (Pedersen’s dunk) only worth two points, but it’s such a momentum changer,” Clark said. “I wouldn’t trade that for the world. When he’s got the athletic ability to go up and finish that, it gets the crowd going and it gets his teammates going.”

Brown’s basket with 40 seconds remaining tied the score at 55-55, but the Lenox senior missed the and-one.

Central Decatur attempted to hold for the final shot, but turned the ball over with 21.4 seconds left on the clock.

Brown got off two shots from point blank in the final five seconds, but missed both, and Boothe’s halfcourt prayer at the buzzer bounced off the backboard and off the rim to the left, sending the game into overtime.

The only basket Lenox could muster in overtime came on a Dawson Tullberg drive to the basket.

“We did everything right, just lost our composure for a little point there at the end of the game,” Lenox head coach Jesse Cox said. “Had some turnovers we don’t usually have and that led them to some fast break opportunities. The pressure got tight there.”

Mismatch

Lenox caught a break when Central Decatur’s 6-5 post player Nick Durrell fouled out of the game with 6:13 left in regulation.

“We thought it was a pretty questionable call when Nick fouled out, because one official had a travel, another had a jump ball and the one official who came in and overruled them with the worst possible scenario for us, giving Nick his fifth foul,” Clark said. “We just had a bunch of guys grinding it out.”

With Durrell out of the game, Central Decatur didn’t have anyone in the post close to matching the height and strength of Brown.

Brown made both free throws resulting from the foul, but counting those free throws, the Lenox senior scored only six points over the course of final 10 minutes of the game (regulation and overtime), while the Tigers, as a whole, scored only nine points in that span.

Central Decatur outscored Lenox 21-9 from that point forward.

“We tried to get the ball to Spencer and forced it. If we just reverse the ball a couple of times and make them play defense, we can get it in there,” Cox said. “We probably should have been a little more patient. We weren’t and that led to their transition points and that got their crowd into it.”

After the two teams went right down to the wire in the lone regular season meeting, players and coaches expected another dogfight Tuesday night.

In that game, Brown caught a fullcourt inbounds pass from Carson Cline, made a basket in the final seconds and got the free throw after a foul to lift Lenox to a 57-56 win.

“I knew it’d be close,” said Pedersen, who recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds. “We’re both really good teams. They won the conference. They’re a really, really good team.”

“I thought it would come down to the last couple of possessions, but I didn’t know we’d have to fight off our backs the whole fourth quarter,” Clark said.

Lenox seniors Brown, Cline, Leevi Marshall and Mike Martinez played their final game for the Tigers in the loss.

“Great senior class,” Cox said. “What they do for me is they made me enjoy the season. I’m kind of a person who gets a little uptight. I’m always worried about the next game or not satisfied, even if we win by 20. They do a good job of making sure that I appreciate what we have and the wins we have.”

Lenox bows out at 19-4 for the season after winning the first outright Pride of Iowa conference championship in program history. Central Decatur, now 17-6 for the season, advances to Thursday’s district final in Mount Ayr against Nodaway Valley.

CENTRAL DECATUR (61) — Peyton Pedersen 10 9-12 30, Carter Boothe 2 6-9 10, Nathan Guill 3 0-0 6, Mickey Morgan 3 0-1 6, Nick Durrell 2 0-2 4, Kyle Guill 1 1-2 4, Gideon Porter 0 1-2 1. Totals — 21 17-30 61. 3-point goals — 2 (Pedersen 1, K. Guill 1). FG shooting — 21-48 (43.7 percent). Rebounds — 33 (Pedersen 11, Morgan 5, Boothe 5, K. Guill 4, Durrell 3). Assists — Boothe 4, Pedersen 3. Steals — Pedersen 5, Boothe 2. Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — K. Guill, Durrell.

LENOX (57) — Spencer Brown 10 10-13 30, Dawson Tullberg 5 0-3 11, Sam Donaldson 4 0-0 8, Carson Cline 1 1-2 4, Kaleb Anderson 1 0-0 3, Leevi Marshall 0 1-2 1. Totals — 21 12-20 57. 3-point goals — 3 (Tullberg 1, Cline 1, Anderson 1). FG shooting — 21-57 (36.8 percent). Rebounds — 33 (Brown 27, Tullberg 3, Sam Donaldson 2). Assists — 10 (Tullberg 4, Cline 3, Brown 3). Steals — 7 (Brown 3). Blocked shots — 2 (Brown 2). Turnovers — 14. Team fouls — 21. Fouled out — Anderson.

CD — 10 18 34 55 61

Lenox — 14 29 46 55 57