On Thursday, January 10 the Antwerp Archers hosted the Wayne Trace Raiders for the annual competition that takes place between these local rivals in high school boys basketball.
It was a slow start to this match as Antwerp only scored four points in the first quarter with Wayne Trace responding with six. It was Ty Rebber who scored the points for the home team. In the second quarter, the pace picked up but the distance increased between opponents with the Raiders controlling a 6 point lead by half. Antwerp’s Rebber was still the only scorer, and now adding Austin Lichty with a single 3-point basket. The Raiders were spreading their points across Reid Miller, Josiah Linder, Nate Gerber and Alex Reinhart, with Miller hitting a 3 pointer.
The second half looked to be a blowout when Wayne Trace took a 10 point advantage, but Antwerp was able to get their game back together as they were able to stop the Raiders from increasing the lead at the same rate they did in the previous half. Raider Jace Vining picked up his first two baskets in this quarter along with Trae Sinn grabbing a couple points. On The Archer side, senior Keaton Altimus nabbed 3 points when he made his basket from behind the line. Luke Brewer also picked up a 3 pointer and Jake Ryan picked up a couple points before the quarter was out. The game is now at 22-29 with Antwerp still behind.
Antwerp Coach Billman brought the team together between the third and fourth and said something that woke the team up. Lichty comes into the game to score 3 shots in a row from the outside, completely changing the momentum of the game! Not only did Antwerp catch up with baskets by Jayvin Landers, Cole Seslar, Brewer, and Rebber, but they were able to pass the Raiders by over 5 points with 2 minutes left in the game.
Trace’s Miller was able to pick up a couple baskets, but the five point deficit seemed nearly insurmountable. Emotions were running high in bleachers and on the bench! Time out was called by Coach Jim Linder to get the game back under control. Gerber and Miller each picked up two more points, but Antwerp was still 2 points ahead with less than 20 seconds on the clock. The Raiders get the ball and pass it to Gerber who was left open to score a 3 point basket and a single point lead! Archers had 6 seconds left on the clock to score, but Alex Reinhart then recorded a steal on the ensuing Antwerp possession to seal the Raider victory. The game reversed from last years’ Archer victory with a 39-40 Raider win! More pictures at westbendnews.net
