Assistant Coach Jeff Clements gives advice to the Toppers during a timeout late in the game with Head Coach Ryan Diebert looking on.

Mount Pulaski suffers Friday night home loss to Edinburg

[December 12, 2015]  MOUNT PULASKI - The Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers fell to Edinburg Friday night 47-44 in the final minutes of the game.

Mount Pulaski had only a slim 19-16 lead at the half as the team was not playing their best basketball. At the end of three quarters of play the score was 35-32 in favor of Mount Pulaski.

The biggest lead Mount Pulaski managed would be in the fourth quarter when Brett Huff hit a three at 5:50 on the clock to give the Toppers the 40 - 33 advantage. From that point on things quickly went south for the Toppers.

The Wildcats hit a few key buckets while the Toppers could not buy a basket. With 3:35 remaining Edinburg took the lead and never gave it up as they jumped on top of the Toppers 43 - 42. Mount Pulaski would miss the next two shot attempts and a foul by Peyton Taylor would give Edinburg a chance to pad the lead at the free throw line, 44 - 42, now the score with around 2:00 left to play. After another Topper miss at a chance to tie the game the Wildcats had possession again and after another quick foul by Dalton Litterly, Edinburg once again added to the lead, 45 - 42, with 1:09 left.

Big man Taylor breathed a little hope for a late comeback into the Toppers when he hit managed to sink a basket with 42.3 seconds left, making the score 45 - 44 in favor of the Wildcats. Again the Toppers were forced to foul late and again Edinburg managed to make one of those free throws and the score was 46 - 44 with 24.4 seconds left.

Huff’s attempt at a three for the win missed shortly thereafter and the Wildcats got the rebound. Mount Pulaski fouled again and for the last time of the evening Edinburg sank one free throw and had the final lead of the night, 47-44. The Toppers did have one last little opportunity as the Wildcats had missed the second free throw with 6.1 seconds remaining.

However, Taylor swatted the rebound away from the crowd under the basket and right into the hands of the Wildcats.

The clocked ticked away rather quickly at this point dashing the Toppers hopes at a milestone on this lovely December evening. You see the Mount Pulaski High School Hilltoppers basketball program sits at 1499 wins in school history. Win number 1500 will just have to wait for now but the Toppers do have a chance yet this weekend as the team travels to take on Lincolnwood tonight with the JV starting at 6:15 p.m. and the Varsity to follow at 7:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, on Friday night the JV did defeat Edinburg in a thriller, 30-29, with Eli Griesheim leading the way for the Toppers with 20 points in that contest.

Toppers Varsity scoring vs. Edinburg

Oliver 12
Litterly 10
Aylesworth 6
Brett Huff 6
Taylor 6
Stewart 4

Toppers Junior Varsity scoring vs. Edinburg

Griesheim 20
Seth Huff 6
Hagenbuch 2
Trimmer 2

[Teena Lowery]